


Dragonhyde

by Jokul_Nightfury_Frost, Vanitas_Repliku_26



Category: Final Fantasy VII, How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, HTTYD/KH crossover, M/M, There are a whole lot more, but I'm too lazy to actually type them all down, it is a huge list, sort of a triple crossover, will also place this on my Patreon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-09-24 13:08:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17101175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jokul_Nightfury_Frost/pseuds/Jokul_Nightfury_Frost, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanitas_Repliku_26/pseuds/Vanitas_Repliku_26
Summary: Dragons and Vikings have been at war for generations. Vikings capture the dragons and use them to help train younger Vikings; the last Viking to survive the training will be able to kill a dragon of their choosing. But with Riku and Sora freeing the dragons secretly, it can be difficult. Reiku is terrified of dragons, but reluctantly becomes friends with a special Night Fury, something Elder Xehanort may be all too happy about.





	1. Flames of Premonition

_The flames were hot and stifling as smoke created by the blaze began to choke the insides of the building. The inferno's molten tongue continued greedily licking at the wooden walls and thatch roof of the small house, causing it to creak and crackle piteously as its bones were mercilessly eaten by the red-hot teeth._

_Portions of beam and patches of blazing straw dropped from the ceiling, sending up ember sparks when they struck the floor, smoldering in ever growing piles. The weakening structure moaned dangerously, about to cave in on itself like an imploding supernova._

_The eight-year-old boy coughed from the dense smoke clogging the house. The heavy beam lying diagonally across his back pinned him to the floor, preventing him from escaping the inferno. Smolder filled his lungs, causing his vision to turn hazy from the lack of oxygen._

_He shook his head to dislodge any ash that was starting to accumulate in his silver hair before squinting trying to see through the dense smoke._

_"Riku…!" the child squeaked, aquamarine eyes desperately scanning the house for any sign of his elder brother._

_Riku had to be somewhere. Their rooms were side by side so surely Riku would have come directly to his younger brother's room to take him out of the house. But there was the chance that Riku had thought that his brother was already out of the burning house; he was probably unaware that his sibling was going to die of smoke inhalation._

_Once again, the boy pushed his hands against the warm floor, struggling to draw himself up on his trembling arms, attempting to shove the beam off his back._

_The smoldering parts of the rafter oppressively pressed against his back in retaliation, starting to burn through the flimsy shirt he wore and sear the tender skin beneath._

_The boy barely registered the sensation of pain of the embers burning him, creating angry red marks._

_As the weight of the beam became too much for his weak arms to continue supporting the boy collapsed. He breathed heavily before once more shoving the palms of his hands against the floor again, making another feeble attempt to free himself._

_When that endeavor failed to work, the boy glanced around the murky room._

_Pieces of flaming wood and thatch dropped to the floor, setting alight anything that wasn't already on fire._

_"Dad?"_

_More pieces of the roof collapsed, the blaze burning faster as it devoured any remaining oxygen the room contained and approached the boy's trapped form. The fire's tongue licked closer to him, eager to start feasting on something different than wood._

_The silveret glanced around, sniffling as he made a pathetic keening noise._

_He was going to die there. No one was going to find his charred husk until the house was reduced to blackened tinder and the clean-up of destroyed houses started._

_The boy lay there as the fire continued to crackle, his hearing began to fade as his body started to pass out. The silveret's only relief was that he would at least be unconscious when the fire began eating at his flesh; at least he wouldn't be able to feel the pain._

_"_ _—ku….!"_

_The boy blinked as the black claws of unconsciousness slowly released him, reluctant to let Reiku stay in the conscious realm in the minutes before his death._

_Had that been his imagination? Was his smoke-clogged mind playing tricks on him, making him believe that in the last moments of his life he had heard a voice calling for him, someone actually searching for him through the flames?_

_"Reiku!"_

_The voice was low and rough, laced with a panic and worry Reiku had never heard before._

_It was his dad!_

_Reiku glanced up with an eagerness he knew he shouldn't have, hearing the sound of rapid footsteps approaching, mingling with the crackling of the fire. Someone really was there! Someone was coming for him!_

_"Dad?" he questioned weakly, hoping that his voice could be heard over the flames._

_Sephiroth was the best when it came to dealing with dragon-related incidents. Reiku and the whole village knew how brave and fearless he was when it came to facing danger with unwavering courage. And if diving into a blazing house with no concern for his own safety wasn’t a testament to Sephiroth’s bravery then Reiku didn’t know what would._

_"Reiku!" the voice called again, louder this time._

_Sephiroth was getting closer to where Reiku was trapped and the boy was beginning to swell with relief. He would live to see the next day._

_"Dad!"_

_A tall man in his early thirties appeared amidst the flames, lengthy mane of silver hair set aglow by the flickering flames, making him appear like a god coming to see the destruction of the world as it burned._ _Pale green eyes scanned the house before widening when they spotted Reiku, unnatural cat-like pupils dilating to adjust to the smoky atmosphere._

_"Reiku!"_

_Immediately, Sephiroth strode toward his trapped son, long legs causing him to reach the beam in a few steps. The fire didn't seem to affect him; perhaps his leggings studded with dragon hide was assisting him in keeping the fire at bay._

_Grabbing the beam, Sephiroth pushed it off Reiku with his amazing strength, ignoring the thud the piece of wood created when it hit the floor several feet away._ _He focused on Reiku, gathering the boy in his arms, holding him close in a protective gesture. Reiku clung to Sephiroth’s neck tightly, trembling and hiccupping quietly._

_Sephiroth hastily made his way through the burning maze, gripping Reiku tightly, afraid of losing one of his precious sons._

_He halted when a beam landed in front of him with a crash, sending hot embers scattering into the dense air. Sephiroth bared his teeth slightly at the blockage keeping him from reaching the outside before he looked around for another exit._

_There had to be another way out. There just had to be. All the silver-haired man could see was flames and smoke, hearing the dangerous noise of the house beginning to collapse under its exhausted weight._

_Alarmed at the rapidly deteriorating house, Sephiroth continued glancing around until he spotted a window several feet away, relatively free of flames._ _He tossed Reiku out of the window without a second thought, concerned more for his son's safety than his own. He would rather save Reiku and let himself be sacrificed than allow both of them to die and leave Riku all alone._

_Reiku yelped as he landed on the cool grass, rolling a few feet from the force of the throw until he landed on his stomach._ _Slowly shaking his head, Reiku glanced up as he heard loud cracking and splintering coming from his house, belatedly realizing that Sephiroth was not beside him._

_Sephiroth was still trapped inside the burning home which was beginning to collapse._

_The young boy watched in horror as the house finally caved in, the flames finally claiming the remainder of the house's supporting structures. The building collapsed with a resounding crash, sending cinders and smoke floating up into the black night sky._

_Reiku screamed his grief and pain, tears streaming down his face as his hands grasped the grass beneath him, tearing it from the ground. He barely heard the sounds of other crackling houses or the yells of fighting Vikings and roaring dragons in the distance. All he could focus on was the smoldering house in front of him._

_"Dad!"_

_\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Reiku bolted upright in his bed, panting. The thin brown blanket sank to this waist and pooled around his hips as cold sweat formed on his bare back and forehead like condensation. Reiku's body became chilled from the sweat, but he didn't notice.

It had been nine years since the incident in which Sephiroth had sacrificed himself to save Reiku. Every time Reiku had the nightmare of what had happened that night he knew what was going to occur—a dragon raid would transpire at some point later that night.

Reiku sighed as he calmed down, running a hand through his damp silver hair in an effort to soothe himself.

He would have to tell Riku of his nightmare who would in turn warn the village Elder of the possible upcoming dragon attack so that everyone could be prepared. Animals would be rounded up and boarded up to prevent the dragons from picking them off to take them to Odin knows where. Large torches would be lit and raised so the Vikings could see the dragons flying around the dark sky, making it easier to attack them.

That had been the life of the Vikings for many centuries, fighting the dragons that stole livestock and fish from their village. It had only been in the last fifty years that they had begun to capture the dragons, placing them in cages specifically designed to keep them in, and used them to train young Vikings in how to combat them. It wasn’t a glamorous life, but it was a life that Reiku was a part of.

Throwing the blanket off, Reiku placed his feet on the chilly wood floor and stood up, pushing his sleeping pants off his hips in a fluid movement before tossing them on the bed. He turned slightly, searching for some clothes to put on for the day. A nasty burn scar stretched from the back of his right arm to the bottom of his left shoulder blade.

The burn was another reminder of that cursed night where he had almost died, but didn't actually bother Reiku physically and it was easy to hide with a shirt so no one else in the village could see it. The burn disturbed him emotionally since it was a reminder of Sephiroth's sacrifice. It was something Reiku would never forgive himself for, feeling that it was his fault Sephiroth had died in the first place. His fault that Riku had become the provider for himself and Reiku at a young age.

After finding a pair of brown trousers and a short-sleeved grey tunic that would suffice, Reiku padded downstairs after putting them on, spotting Riku at the hearth making porridge for breakfast. He was always up before Reiku, usually by an hour, so Reiku had become used to the ritual of Riku already making breakfast by the time he was heading downstairs.

Riku was two years older than Reiku with slightly paler skin. With silver hair reaching inches past his shoulders and bright blue-green eyes, many of the villagers thought he looked a lot like Sephiroth and a lot of them expected Riku to keep up Sephiroth's legacy of being a ruthless dragon killer. Reiku wasn’t sure what Riku wanted to do since Riku never really talked about himself.

Riku was wearing loose blue trousers and black tunic underneath a white sleeveless jerkin, obviously prepared for a day out. A stiff white brace of deer bone was latched around Riku's left wrist, a reminder of the time Riku had gotten his wrist broken by the precise whip of a Nadder's swift tail. It had never properly set after the injury, requiring the brace to be permanent, but that didn't stop Riku from continuing to fight dragons, always managing to protect his vulnerable side from attack.

Riku was the one who took care of Reiku after Sephiroth died; their mother had passed after giving birth to Reiku so Reiku had never known her and Riku barely remembered her. Sephiroth had been both mother and father to them until his death then Riku had taken the role upon himself for the sake of Reiku.

Riku glanced behind him when he heard Reiku coming down the stairs, pausing in his stirring as he smiled gently.

"Hey," he greeted casually, turning back to the cooking porridge to make sure it didn’t burn. "Sleep well?"

Reiku nodded absently to Riku's question as the older sibling poured some honey and sprinkled a bit of mint into the porridge just the way he knew Reiku liked it. Riku was always aware of his brother's likes and dislikes.

"Mm-hm," Reiku said. "But I had the nightmare."

Riku hummed softly, dispensing a spoonful of the porridge into a bowl before holding it out to Reiku.

"I'll tell the Elder then," he murmured as his brother reached for the offered item.

Reiku gave another nod, sitting at the tiny table set beside the hearth, pouring himself a cup of lukewarm buttermilk from the pitcher that was set out.

Riku stood up after getting himself a bowl, sitting in the seat across from Reiku. He quietly ate a few bites, watching Reiku with hawk eyes as if waiting for the silveret to do something. When he received no sort of conversation from his brother Riku gave a soft sigh, mixing it with a huff to get Reiku’s attention.

"Don't forget about dragon training around the beginning of the afternoon today."

Reiku choked on his bite of porridge, staring at Riku in astonishment as he dropped his spoon back into the bowl. Had Riku said what he thought he said? Of course Reiku knew what time dragon training was held, but he refused to be in the classes.

"What?!" Reiku asked in a strangled voice, praying that he had misheard Riku and was still half-asleep or high-strung from the remnants of the nightmare.

"I signed you up for dragon training," Riku said simply, slurping his porridge as if this was a typical conversation that the two brothers shared every day.

Reiku slammed his hands on the table in protest. "Ri!"

Riku set down his spoon, staring at Reiku calmly in a way that Reiku was reminded of the way Sephiroth looked just before one of them would get a lecture. The look made Reiku grit his teeth, upset that Riku did look so much like their late father.

"Sorry, Rei, but you're of age and you have to get over your fear of dragons."

Reiku gripped the edge of the table at the statement, trembling slightly.

Get over his fear? After being trapped in a burning house set on fire by a Gronckle? When his dad, Riku's dad, died saving him from burning? There was no way that he could get over that phobia so easily, not when he felt so guilty that he had been the indirect cause of their father's death. That he was the reason that Riku was not only his brother but his parent as well?

Requesting that he attend dragon training, without even asking his permission beforehand, was like rubbing salt in the wound.

"Th…that's easier said than done, Ri…" Reiku whispered, attempting to keep the waver out of his voice so that Riku wouldn't try and comfort him as he usually did when he realized his brother was upset over things that happened in the past.

The older sibling sighed in mild resignation, standing up from his seat, already finished with his breakfast. He was typically a fast eater, as was any Viking bred to fight dragons at a moment's notice.

"I know, Rei," Riku assured as he set his bowl in the sink carved from a large slab of dark-colored rock. "But I'll be in your class and so will Sora and Ven."

Sora was Riku's boyfriend. They had been friends since they were five and had started dating at fourteen. Sora's father had also died in the same attack that had killed Sephiroth. A farmer named Leon adopted the sweet brunet since Sora had no one else to care for him.

Reiku bit his lip, still unsure about the idea of dragon training as many scenarios began to race through his mind.

What if he froze up during it? What if the dragon solely targeted him because it sensed he was terrified? He didn’t want anyone to get hurt trying to protect him.

"I'll go tell the elder," Riku announced, heading to the front door and stepping into his shoes set at the threshold. "Then I'm meeting with Sora."

Reiku nodded in response to what Riku was saying even though he was barely listening, stirring his porridge listlessly. The thought of attending dragon training was making his stomach twist in on itself, causing Reiku to lose his appetite.

"Don't forget dragon training," Riku reminded quietly, opening the front door.

"Okay," Reiku responded automatically as the front door shut, leaving him alone with his thoughts about what he was going to do.

After a few seconds he sighed, shoving the bowl away from himself and standing up.

He needed to go talk to Cloud. Cloud always had good answers to his problems.

\------------------------------------------------

"Elder Xehanort?" Riku questioned as he respectfully knocked on the door of the dilapidated house situated near the far back of the village, far away from the main commons. "Are you in?"

Xehanort was not only the elder of the village but the chief as well. He had founded the village in his youth, naming the tiny settlement after the Life Tree because of how warm the island remained year round and the plentiful resources that thrived there. Xehanort had been a terrifying dragon killer when he had been young and practically every Viking—on the island and afar—knew of Xehanort the Heartless. He was more famous than Sephiroth, the Silver Demon.

Even at the age of sixty-eight, Xehanort was still very powerful despite his broad, hunched shoulders and crooked back. The feeble appearance he wore belied his true strength and agility. He was still very much authoritative and that was what warranted respect from the villagers.

Xehanort also dressed the most elaborate in the village with black trousers and a white sleeveless tunic beneath a white and black coat that had red inner lining and wide sleeves. The coat had come from a foreign land Xehanort had visited in his youth, decorated with the scales of many different dragons.

"Ah, yes, come in, Riku," Xehanort voice sounded from inside as the clinking of something was heard.

It sounded like bottles of some sort, as if Xehanort were moving them around, but Riku wasn't entirely certain. He wasn't one to judge what the Elder was doing in his private home during his own time.

Riku slowly entered the house, being careful not to push the warped door off its rusted hinges. The silver-haired teen still wondered why Xehanort refused to keep his house defended by updating the rotting wood and changing out the door for a stronger one that would help better keep his home from falling victim to a dragon's attack. Xehanort was stubborn in his ways, Riku supposed.

Inside, the house was cleaner, looking like a newer home than it did from the outside as if Xehanort were keeping up with the old saying of 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. Several homemade shelves lined the walls with books that Xehanort had written himself or had gathered in the travels of his adolescence.

The skin of a Night Fury lay on the middle of the floor like an exotic rug, haunting pale green eyes staring at the ceiling, black scales glinting in the sunlight streaming in through the windows; no one knew exactly how Xehanort had managed to find a Night Fury, let alone kill it as the dragon was extremely elusive. Due to the feat, that was another reason why Xehanort was feared and respected.

Xehanort sat at a table in the center of the room, scribbling something on a sheet of parchment with a charcoal pencil. Riku wasn't certain about what he was writing but it could have been another account of the adventures of his youth or a list of what was needed for the trader that would be visiting the island soon.

The elder glanced up as Riku paused several feet away from the desk, thin eyebrows rising slightly as his gold eyes stared at Riku stonily. The way he looked at Riku reminded the silver-haired teen of someone sizing up a horse to see if it fit their needs. Finally, Xehanort smiled in a way that made Riku's hair stand on end. It was a smile reminiscent of someone ready, and eager, to spill blood at the drop of a silver coin.

"Good morning, Riku," Xehanort greeted pleasantly, setting his pencil down and interlocking his fingers to show that he was ready to listen to whatever was being said to him. "What can I do for you?"

Riku cleared his throat, maintaining eye contact with the tan, bald-headed man. He had to show that Xehanort did not intimidate him or make his skin crawl just by being in his presence; there was just something about Xehanort that did not settle comfortably with Riku.

"Reiku says there may be a dragon raid tonight."

"Oh?" Xehanort questioned, idly stroking his curled, silver goatee as he leaned back in his chair, taking in what Riku had told him. "Well, thank you for informing me, Riku. I’ll make sure that the village is well prepared for tonight."

The chair creaked slightly as Xehanort leaned forward, golden eyes glancing back down at the parchment as he began to write again.

Riku took that gesture as his cue to leave and turned around, making his way back to the door. He didn't want to spend any more of his time there than he already had. He had promised to meet up with Sora anyway and he had already taken too long.

After the front door had shut, a slow, cruel smile made its way onto Xehanort's face.

\---------------------------------------------

The hoe struck the loose ground, gouging the earth beneath it, as Cloud glanced up from his work, blue eyes controlled. He was normally a calm person, but there were times that Cloud did lose control of his emotions though they were very rare instances.

"You can't keep letting the guilt control you," he murmured, pushing his damp spiky blond hair out of his face so he could see better.

Cloud was twenty-one and the older brother of Ventus and Roxas, the twins who were Sora's friends.

The three had their own cabbage and potato patch beside their house which Cloud took immense care of and was more than willing to share the vegetables with the rest of the village when needed.

There was a rumor circulating around the village that Cloud was dating Leon though it had yet to be proven true. At the very least the two were friends because of the relationship between Cloud's brothers and Sora.

Reiku sighed, leaning against the side of Cloud's house with his arms crossed as he watched the blond continue tilling the soil to prepare the land for planting more cabbage seeds.

He should have expected such a response from Cloud; apparently something had happened several years ago and the blond had almost lost a dear friend to a dragon attack, but Cloud never went into further detail about the incident. He only mentioned that his friend had survived but not without severe burn scars on his back. Cloud never revealed his friend's name.

Reiku wasn’t sure if Cloud had been guilty over the incident or was still feeling guilty, but it definitely wasn’t the answer that Reiku had been looking for.

Cloud stopped in his work again, wiping his hands on his dark trousers to brush off the dirt before pulling at his sleeveless black tunic in an attempt to cool himself off, gazing at Reiku blankly as he breathed out.

"Don't you have dragon training soon?"

"I was thinking I'd stay with you and we could—"

Cloud pointed toward the center of the island before Reiku could finish his statement. "Go on."

Reiku sighed, pushing himself off the wall and slinking off. Well so much for that idea.

\-------------------------------------------------

Reiku grumbled to himself as he made his way to the dragon arena, staring up at it balefully when it came into sight.

The arena was a several meter deep pit with fireproof metal bars and links set over the top like a dome; the dome was anchored deep into the rocky ground around the arena to stop the dragons from flying out or breaking free. The pit was set in the center of the island, the centerpiece of the village.

Inside the crater were five cages lined along one wall with big metal doors blocked with thick logs to prevent the captured dragons from breaking out; each door had a lever to open it, though one cage had the lever on the outside of the arena rather than the inside. Currently, the pit contained three dragons: a Gronckle, a Deadly Nadder, and the ferocious Monstrous Nightmare.

Every so often though, it appeared as if the dragons managed to somehow smash free of their confinement despite the heavy locks and disappear, leaving several Vikings to try and capture more dragons during raids to replace the missing ones. They did need a certain number of dragons within the arena to use as practice to hone the skills of Vikings-to-be and three was the lowest number that they would allow.

Reiku sighed to himself as he entered the arena, glancing around it. He had never been on the inside, so it was a new experience for him.

Weapons and shields lay scattered on the ground, to be used during training sessions in order to beat the dragon the students were faced with without actually killing the beast. It had become a tradition that only the last student to make it to the finals got the honor of killing a dragon of their choosing.

As Reiku looked around, he noticed that he was the first one of his class to arrive. He honestly hadn't expected for Riku to be there waiting for him with Sora by his side and usually wherever Sora was Ventus followed.

But just because his brother, Sora and Ventus weren't there didn't mean Reiku was alone. Seifer and his two friends were there, apparently hanging around after their training.

Seifer was part of the disciplinary committee, a group he had created to guard Yggdrasil by protecting the town from unruly Vikings though that mostly just meant Cid, who was usually drunk at random hours.

However despite the name, the group was just bullies, using their committee to gloss over what they actually did. They mostly picked on Reiku because they knew of his fear of dragons and enjoyed exploiting Reiku's phobia in any way possible.

Seifer smirked as he spotted Reiku warily entering the arena, blue-green eyes sparking mischievously as he brushed his hands on his dark brown trousers before pulling at the white long-tailed jerkin that he wore; the jerkin covered a blue tunic cut at the base to reveal several inches of Seifer's toned stomach.

Reiku always thought that the way Seifer dressed was a way to try and attract females to him, but he had yet to see the females crowding around him like moths to a flame.

Seifer's blond hair was practically hidden under a black cap of thick wool, but it didn't manage to hide the diagonal scar sloping to the right on his forehead. Seifer claimed the scar had been caused by the needle of a Deadly Nadder's tail, but Reiku didn't believe him. It could have just been a story that Seifer told to make himself appear macho.

"Well, well, lookie who's come to join the party."

Reiku grimaced when the twenty-four-year-old trotted over to him with his two friends tagging behind him. The three were rarely seen apart from each other, sticking to each other like tree sap.

"Hey, hey," Seifer said as he dropped his arm around Reiku's shoulders to stop him, grinning down at Reiku. "Where are you going?"

"Seifer wants to talk with you, ya know?" Raijin stated, brown eyes hard in an attempt to be intimidating though the effect didn't work on Reiku who had been more intimidated by an irate Sephiroth than a mindless sheep that followed the leader.

Raijin, though he liked to be called Rai for short, was a year younger than Seifer, standing slightly taller than the blond, with a muscular body and tan skin. His black hair was short and he wore an orange sleeveless shirt and baggy dark pants with a necklace that had a thunderbolt-shaped pendant made of a lightweight metal hanging from the end of the thin links.

Rai was the muscle in the group and had supposedly broken a Gronckle's neck when he had been younger. There was no real proof behind the story, but a lot of people in the village believed it. Reiku didn’t believe it one bit.

"Affirmative," Fuu put in, her burnt sienna eye blinking blankly.

Fuu's light-colored steel-blue hair fell across the left side of her face and dropped to the bottom of her jaw to cover her left eye, leaving the right one exposed.

She was the most toned down in the group in terms of clothing, wearing a sleeveless blue tunic and pale trousers cut at the knees.

Fuu was the brains in the group despite how little she spoke, three years younger than Seifer and had apparently caused a Nightmare to back down by simply staring at it. Reiku partially believed it; her thousand-yard stare was pretty intimidating.

"Leave me alone, Seifer," Reiku grumbled, pushing the blond's arm off him and starting to walk away.

Riku had told him that ignoring Seifer was the best route instead of giving into whatever Seifer said so that's what Reiku did; he ignored Seifer to the best of his ability despite how the blond always attempted to get under his skin.

"Oh, come on!" Seifer said, putting his arm back around the teen's shoulders, yanking back slightly to stop Reiku once again. "I just want to show you something."

Before Reiku could react or ask what exactly the blond wanted to show him, Seifer gripped both of his shoulders hard and started pushing him to a nearby cage where Rai stood near the lever that opened it on the outside of the arena.

When had Rai even left the arena to get there? He must have left while Reiku was distracted by Seifer. This was obviously planned for whenever or if Reiku entered the arena, surely.

Reiku, however, knew what waited inside the cage with the lever on the outside and desperately began to dig his heels into the smooth metal floor in an attempt to stop Seifer from continuing to push him.

"Stop it, Seifer!"

"What's the matter?" Seifer asked with a smirk, ignoring the way Reiku was clawing at his hands to try and get him to let go. "Don't want to see a Monstrous Nightmare up close and personal?"

The dragon inside the enclosure snarled and rattled the door before roaring, banging against the door.

Seifer laughed at Reiku's terrified expression.

"Oi, Almasy!" a voice rang out, causing the blond to halt and Rai to immediately release the lever, putting his hands behind his back innocently. "Leave Reiku alone."

Seifer sighed in mild disappointment, releasing his grip on Reiku's shoulders and casually raising his hands in the air, smiling faintly. "Okay, okay, Mr. Fair."

Zack Fair the Righteous was the dragon trainer teacher and had extensive knowledge of almost every dragon the village knew of or had captured, compiling everything he knew into a book that every Viking was required to read.

Zack was well-built and had short, spiky black hair with bangs framing his face and clear sky blue eyes. His favorite weapon was one he had created himself, a large blade he called the Buster Sword; despite its obvious weight, Zack was able to wield the weapon with ease.

Seifer turned, barely brushing against Zack's shoulder as he strode past him, flicking his hand as he went to summon Fuu and Rai. "C'mon, guys. It was getting boring anyway."

"Confirmatory," Fuu murmured as she closely trailed after the blond.

"Yeah, it wasn't fun anymore, you know!" Rai shouted, catching up to Seifer and Fuu as they exited the pit.

Riku scowled after Seifer as he entered the pit just seconds after the blond had left, immediately making his way over to the frozen Reiku, gently placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Rei, it's okay now."

Reiku started slightly at the touch, looking at Riku with huge eyes before clinging to him, trembling as he gripped Riku's shirt tightly.

Automatically, Riku wrapped his arms around Reiku and held him close, petting his brother's hair to soothe him.

Next time Riku would have to make sure Seifer and his gang weren't training before their class started. Riku didn't want Seifer attempting to put his little brother into a dragon's cage again. And if Seifer did try again, Riku would make sure to talk to Xehanort about what Seifer and his goons were attempting to do on a practically daily basis.

"Ri-Ri?" a gentle voice asked, causing Riku to look up to see a spiky-haired brunet staring at him with innocent blue eyes similar to a young child not quite comprehending what was happening in front of him.

"Hey, Sora," Riku greeted softly as a blond a year younger than him entered the arena, Zack shutting the heavy metal door behind the blond to prevent the dragons from leaving in the middle of training.

Ventus came up to them, ocean blue eyes wondering what was going on.

Even though Ventus and Roxas were identical twins there were a few ways to tell them apart as Ventus's eyes had a grey tint to them while Roxas's were pure blue like the sky.

While Ventus wore grey trousers and a white tunic with a black jerkin, Roxas wore black trousers and a black tunic with a white and black checkered jerkin.

Ventus wanted to be in dragon training but Roxas had refused, choosing instead to become an apprentice to the village's local grouch, Vexen. Vexen was the medical doctor who had broad expertise on all sorts of herbs and spices that he used for healing wounds among other things.

Roxas was also terrified of Monstrous Nightmares though no one was quite certain why he was scared of them and Roxas wasn’t very open about his fear of that species of dragon.

"What's going on?" Ventus asked as Zack began to announce that the training would begin soon and to get ready.

"Just Seifer and his gang being asses," Riku muttered venomously, still holding onto Reiku. "Don't worry, Rei. Next time I'll come first to make sure they aren't hanging around."

Reiku sniffed, nodding into Riku's chest, not quite releasing his tight grip from Riku.

Sora patted Reiku's back sympathetically, understanding Reiku's dilemma since Seifer had picked on him until he had started dating Riku; Seifer never picked on Reiku whenever Riku was around though so Sora had realized that Seifer was either intimidated by Riku or scared of him for some reason.

"All right, you guys!" Zack called, causing the teens to look in his direction. "Training's starting!"

\-----------------------------------------------------

Reiku stared in horror, frozen in terror by the multiple dragons flying around and the screams of the Vikings fighting them off.

He wasn't concerned that he could easily be picked off where he was, standing petrified out in the open. Half of his mind told him to hide in the nearest house, but he was stupidly ignoring the self-preservation instincts.

Like he had predicted, the dragon raid was happening. The lanterns had been lit and raised up to reveal the dragons flying through the dark sky, looking like vultures circling over a fresh kill. The lit braziers were making it easier for the Vikings to attack the dragons, keeping the tide of battle in the Viking’s favor.

Already, a Viking had captured a Terrible Terror with a net as well as tying up a Hideous Zippleback.

Two more dragons for the arena, filling the last two empty cages. Now there was a variety of dragons to train the young Vikings with.

A male in his early twenties ran through the buzzing village, pushing a strange wooden contraption in front of him, dark silver hair and golden eyes standing out in the night. The man was Sho, the assistant to Cid, the village's practically insane inventor.

Cid wasn't that insane though as he had invented a lot of useful things for the villagers. The bola whip (single and two weight), a heavy net that held down the more powerful dragons long enough for the Vikings to grab before they could get free. He had also created helpful inventions around the village, too, like the dragon arena.

Sho headed to the open outskirts of the village, opening the contraption and setting up two curved wood pieces before pulling a thick string back, attaching it to a hook. He gazed through a small circular ring, closing an eye to get better accuracy.

The silver-haired male muttered numbers under his breath, slowly moving the mechanism as he followed the dragons soaring around, searching for the perfect target to attack.

He aimed at a Gronckle stupidly hovering nearby then fired, a two-rock bola sling whipping out.

The dragon Sho had been aiming for avoided the bola at the last minute, but the weapon still managed to catch something that Sho hadn't seen in the dark night sky. He heard its roar as it fell into the nearby forest, a faint crash resounding as it smashed into the ground. Sho grinned hysterically, straightening quickly.

"I got something!" Sho screamed excitedly, eagerly looking around for someone that had perhaps witnessed his feat. "Did any of you hectopascals see that?!"

"Shut up, Sho!" a few Vikings yelled, already used to the man's insane vocabulary and not in the mood to deal with his turbulent emotions during a raid.

Sho ignored the grouped reprimand, eagerly running toward the forest to acquire his catch before it could manage to break free of its binds.

\-------------------------------------------------------

Riku and Sora exited the dragon arena, Riku making sure to keep the door thrown wide open behind them to make the believable appearance that a dragon had burst out of it, adding a bit of smeared ash and dust to the floor to make it look as if a dragon's fire had struck the metal.

They had just finished freeing one of the dragons, the Gronckle, using the raid as an opportunity to slip to the arena unseen and complete their work. Riku and Sora had been freeing dragons for a while, usually completing the job during the night or during raids when there was a possibility that no one would be around the arena. They freed dragons intermittently through different days to make sure no one recognized a pattern.

The two glanced up at the black sky when there was a faint roar and Sora's eyes widened at the sight of the faint black outline tumbling into the forest ringing the outer edge of the village.

"Van!" he screamed desperately.


	2. Dawn of the Fury

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I put this chapter on my Patreon but no one seems interested in it so I've deleted my Patreon. I guess I'll put up stuff here from now on.

Sora and Riku sprinted through the forest as fast as their legs would carry them, determined to reach where the dragon had fallen before Sho did.

 _Van, Van, Van._ Sora's mind chanted, keeping up with Riku even as the underbrush attempted to tangle around his feet and trip him up.

The brunet wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to Van. Van was the only link to their mother.

Riku paused at the top of a steep slope, glancing around to search for any familiar sight of silver hair or a downed dragon. He spotted Sho down below in a clearing.

Sho was tightening a rope around the broad mouth of a sleek medium-sized black dragon that was snared in his bola contraption.

The dragon was snarling at Sho, writhing against the ropes pinning its wings and legs to its sides. The ropes were strong enough to keep the dragon from easily snapping them with its strength.

When Riku saw Sora try to bolt past him, Riku quickly grabbed his arm, dragging the brunet behind a nearby tree. He was trying to prevent Sora from making a fool of himself or worse, hurting himself.

Riku placed a hand over Sora's mouth when the brunet made to protest, muttering soothing words under his breath in an attempt to calm the brunet as he stroked his hair.

Riku needed Sora to think rationally. Sho would wonder why they had followed him and it would be difficult to explain their reasoning without arousing suspicion.

They couldn't rush headlong into this sort of situation. If Sho figured out what they did—what they have been doing—everything would be ruined. They wouldn't be able to continue their work. And if word got to the _Elder_ about what they had been discovered doing, then that would be worse. Way worse.

Riku glanced around the trunk of the tree, watching Sho start to drag the struggling dragon back toward the village. The two wing flaps on the dragon's powerful tail slapped the ground as a low growl resounded from its throat. The dragon furiously shook its head from side to side in an attempt to throw off the rope muzzling its mouth.

Riku frowned before releasing Sora and motioning for the brunet to follow him; they had to get back to the village before someone noticed their absence and mentioned it to someone else or worse, told Xehanort. Being away while the village was being cleaned up and items accounted for was suspicious. Riku didn’t want any questions or other Vikings wondering where they had gone.

Sora glanced in the direction Sho had gone helplessly, obviously wanting to go after him directly to free the dragon, but Riku grabbed his wrist gently before the brunet could get any ideas.

"We'll get him,” he assured. “Don't worry. But we can't help him if we're discovered—we won't be able to help others if we're discovered."

Riku spoke softly, hoping he could appeal to the brunette's rare sense of correct judgment.

Sora remained quiet for a while before reluctantly nodding, slowly following Riku back to the village.

Riku glanced back at the brunet as they walked before he sighed, slowing down so Sora could catch up to him. When the brunet was right by his side, Riku grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers and squeezing.

"Hey. We'll get him, all right? I'll make sure he doesn't get hurt."

Sora pouted a bit, as if he wasn't sure whether he should believe Riku or not, before he nodded. He smiled a bit, bumping his head against Riku's cheek. "All right. I trust you."

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sora and Riku quietly merged with the small crowd gathered at the entrance to the dragon training pit, several Vikings murmuring amongst themselves as Sho dragged the still struggling dragon toward the enclosure.

Xehanort stood amid the mass of Vikings, watching passively as the ebony reptile was hauled past him before he turned and ambled back to his house, resting his arms behind his back.

Once Xehanort had gotten farther away from the crowd of Vikings, a measured smile crossed his face.

He _finally_ had his Night Fury. After so long of missing or never seeing one, that idiot Sho accidentally managed to capture one. And just in time.

Xehanort entered his house as the Vikings below began to disperse, shutting the door behind him. He grabbed a thick book from the bookshelf closest to his desk and set it on the smooth desktop, running a withered hand down the front cover. The book was plain in appearance with a green hardback cover and yellowed pages. It was an old book, one of the first that Xehanort had bought during the travels of his youth. Its title was faded, barely legible, but having read it several times Xehanort knew what the book was about.

Sitting at the desk, Xehanort opened the book to reveal several hollowed-out pages which contained a small glass vial with red liquid. He picked up the phial, shaking it slightly as he looked at the minimal amount of liquid swishing around.

He frowned, setting the bottle back into the hollowed-out book and shutting it, tapping the cover thoughtfully.

There was only about a months' worth left. Two months if he was willing to take the chance to stretch it out.

But now he wouldn’t have to worry about it at all. Not with that Night Fury in his possession.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"That—that number crunching butt munch!"

Kariya's brown eyes watched the thirty-five-year-old male pace around the small workshop from where he sat at a workbench.

Cid had always had a way with words when he was worked up. Those ways with words weren't always pretty though. At least he wasn’t cursing quite yet.

The seventeen-year-old had just passed by the inventor's shop to pick up Sho only to come across Cid in mid-rant; after he had dragged Kariya into the shop, the inventor then continued to rant to Kariya about his 'irresponsible boyfriend', barely allowing Kariya a word in edgewise.

"I oughta shove my spear up his ass for being a foolish… _fool_!" Cid gave a frustrated growl, furiously rubbing his leather gloved hands through his short blond hair in exasperation.

Kariya sighed, resting his chin in his hand as he continued to politely listen to the inventor's rants, knowing that even if he did speak up to defend Sho's actions Cid wouldn't listen to him. Cid didn't listen to anyone when he was in a mood.

Cid took a brief break from his tirade, rubbing his facial stubble before tying a thin jacket around the waist of his green slacks and plopping down on a bench to irately tinker with something, blue eyes hard.

Well, Kariya supposed, tinkering with something was better than drowning his rage in mead; the blond was even worse when he was drunk.

Kariya stretched out his legs before running a hand through his orange hair which was held up by four x-shaped metal pieces. He stood up and brushed off his brown trousers, the long cross-shaped chain links hanging at his side jingling from the movement.

Maybe he could leave before Cid regained steam. Then he wouldn’t have to listen to anymore of Cid’s ranting.

"Thank you for the hospitality, Cid, but I—"

"I can' believe that idjit!" Cid stood up abruptly, the container holding several charcoal pencils toppling over when he slammed his hands on the small table, the frail silver necklace around his neck swaying with the action.

Kariya slowly sat back down, pushing a pair of orange-tinted glasses up his nose, realizing Cid wouldn't allow him to leave in the middle of a rant. He was probably going to be stuck there for a while. Or at least until Sho returned. Which was hopefully soon.

"Next time he does that I'll let him become dragon fodder. See if'n he does that again!"

"Hectopascal, guess what I added to the dragon containment unit!" Sho entered the workshop, looking utterly proud of himself only to pale when he spotted Cid glowering at him.

Before Sho could even say anything, Cid had already cornered Sho, grabbing his nearby spear and pointing the sharp tip at the silver-haired teen. Sho raised up his hand defensively.

"Got anything t' say fer yourself, boy?"

Sho remained quiet for several seconds, gauging whether one answer would be worse than another before he responded, "I added a Night Fury."

Cid narrowed his sky blue eyes, even though he was impressed by the teen's honesty, before pointing his lance at a nearby table.

"Git back to work, idjit."

"Positive," Sho replied, immediately heading toward the bench before Cid could change his mind and whack him with the spear.

Cid grumbled, setting his spear down before he returned to tinkering with a new invention that he was working on.

Kariya sighed, shaking his head. Despite being a bit rough around the edges, Cid was really a kindhearted person.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several days later, Reiku's dragon training class had their chance to test their skills against another dragon. The four Vikings each held a bucket containing water at Zack's request.

Sora and Ventus looked excited to test their skills while Riku stared determinedly at the door containing the dragon they were going to train against; Reiku wasn't so sure about training against a dragon like the other three, holding onto the bucket of water nervously.

"For today's lesson, you're up against a Hideous Zippleback," Zack explained, standing by the cage, hand on the lock to the Zippleback's cage door. "Try to figure out which head lights the other head's flammable gas."

Reiku stood next to Riku, clutching the bucket of water to his chest as Zack released the cage door's latch. Zack moved off to the side, out of the dragon's attack range.

For several seconds nothing happened before the double doors burst open as the dragon slammed into them. Green smoke poured out from the enclosure, quickly enveloping the arena and limiting the Vikings' sight.

Reiku looked around frantically, searching for the stealthy double-headed dragon, realizing he had also lost track of Riku in the dense smog. He didn’t dare call out Riku’s name, not wanting to give away his position to the dragon.

There was a low growl nearby and Reiku froze as two long, serpentine necks appeared on either side of him, red spikes along the backs of the dragon's split necks vibrating slightly.

The Zippleback slowly ambled closer to Reiku on its short legs, bottle green body blending in with the green fumes, the red highlights along its body and cream underbelly the only thing distinguishing the medium-sized dragon from the mist.

The dragon lifted up their heads to their full height, split tail curling up behind it, and stared down at the young Viking. It looked like it was debating on what to do with the Viking.

Reiku trembled as the Zippleback's twin heads gazed at him before the left head began to sharply click its short upper teeth against its long lower teeth, creating sparks from the friction. The other head growled.

Zack looked around, leaning against the arena's outer wall as he searched for any sign of the dragon or the fledgling Vikings. He noticed a frozen Reiku standing in the center of the arena, staring at the Zippleback and apparently not noticing the sparks flying from the reptile's mouth.

"Throw the water on the head!" Zack shouted, straightening his posture in case he had to jump in. He grabbed onto one of the metal bars, leaning in so he could be heard better. "Reiku, throw the water!"

Reiku blinked at the order, temporarily forgetting his fear, and quickly tossed the water at the sparking head only to miss when the Zippleback sharply pulled back to avoid the liquid.

The dragon stared down at the wet ground where the water had landed before both heads glanced at each other then snickered, turning back to the terrified Reiku.

"Reiku!"

Just as the other head opened its mouth, green gas building at the back of its throat, both heads looked surprised when the head that was creating the sparks suddenly became drenched.

"Good shot, Riku!" Zack called.

Both heads looked up to see Riku hanging upside down from a metal rung of the enclosure's domed roof, holding the empty bucket in both hands. He had climbed up to the roof while the Zippleback had been distracted.

The dragon hissed at the silveret, flaring and vibrating the short wings folded against its side as Riku dropped the bucket on the gas spitting head.

The dragon snarled as it tried to shake the bucket off, backing up a bit.

Riku let go of the rung, flipping over and dropping onto the drenched head, grabbing the straight horns protruding from the dragon's skull. He sharply twisted the horns to the side, using his strength to drag the head to the ground until its nose horn touched the floor.

The Zippleback lost its balance with one head pressed to the ground, claws on its right legs desperately scratching at the ground as it attempted to maintain equilibrium, only to end up crashing onto its side with a low rumble. The collapse subsequently brought the dragon's twin head down as well.

Riku smirked at the toppled dragon, breathing heavily as he kept his strong hold on the dragon's horns. Well, that wasn't so hard.

The Zippleback growled, throwing Riku off with a swift shake of its head and sending the silver-haired teen skidding across the floor. It climbed back to its feet with snarl, the other head furiously shaking the bucket off.

Sora ran over to Riku to check on him. Riku wasn’t hurt from the skid, patting Sora’s arm as he sat up.

The dragon took several steps forward then shrieked when it spotted Zack holding up a black and yellow striped eel. Both of the dragon's heads practically pressed against its back to keep from touching the poisonous fish as it backed up with the black-haired Viking slowly stepping forward.

Zack guided the dragon back to its cage using its fear of the eel, shutting the door once the Zippleback was inside and locking the cage door.

"Good job, everyone," Zack praised, turning to the others as he properly disposed of the now useless eel. "Next class, I'll explain what we'll be studying."

Reiku followed after Riku and the other two as they started to leave only to stop when a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Hey, Rei," Zack said. "If you don't mind, would you clean the arena real fast?"

"Oh.” Reiku bit his lip, not wanting to be around the dragons any longer than necessary before he nodded, smiling at Zack. “Sure. I can do that."

"Thanks." Zack grinned, patting Reiku's shoulder as he strode past him.

Reiku started straightening the arena, pausing when he heard Zack say, "And, hey, good work out there today."

Reiku stared after Zack before he smiled to himself, continuing to work.

He actually felt pretty good about himself; it was the first time he had come out of his fear of dragons. Maybe he could actually manage to get over his fear someday. It would take a while, but it seemed like a possible achievement now.

Reiku startled when someone suddenly grabbed both of his shoulders, becoming alarmed when he noticed that it was Rai who had grabbed him.

"Well, well, if it isn't my favorite scaredy Viking," Seifer laughed as he came up to Reiku with Fuu strolling past him. "Cleaning up all by your lonesome today?"

"Let me go, Seifer," Reiku said, trying to sound braver than he felt.

It wasn't like he could fight back against Seifer or his gang; they not only outnumbered him, but they were stronger than he was.

"Mm…nah." Seifer snapped his fingers and Rai started to drag Reiku to the nearest cage where Fuu already had her hand on the lock.

Reiku started to struggle, but Rai was bigger and stronger than he was, keeping a firm grip on the silveret's shoulders.

"Riku!"

"That goody-goody isn't going to come save you." Seifer growled as Fuu unlocked and opened the cage door slightly. Not enough to release the dragon that was inside, but enough to let someone in.

Just as quickly as Fuu had opened the gate, Reiku was shoved into the closure and the door was slammed shut behind him, plunging him in darkness.

Seifer laughed as Fuu locked the door, high-fiving her and Rai before the trio headed out of the arena.

"Yggdrasil doesn't need wimps like you!" Seifer called back.

"Yeah, you give Vikings a bad name, you know!" Rai shouted.

"Affirmative," Fuu agreed.

Reiku desperately banged on the door and rattled it, hoping someone would hear him and come get him out. Blood rushed to his ears and tightened his throat until he felt like he was going to be sick from terror.

Reiku froze when he heard a soft growl before instantly turning around and pressing his back against the gate, heart leaping into his throat. A pair of glowing pale gold eyes opened up in the darkness, staring straight at him.

There was a faint snort before Reiku heard sniffing as the eyes slowly came toward him.

Reiku banged on the door with his fist again, keeping his back against it as his heart threatened to burst out his chest; turning his back to a dragon was not a wise idea. Especially when he couldn’t exactly see what kind of dragon it was.

"Riku!"

A purple flash of light briefly lit up the enclosure as the dragon released a blast of plasma energy at the ground, creating a very faint fire from the shot.

The Night Fury was couched low in an almost cautious gesture, short neck scrunched up, left flank exposed as it gazed at the young Viking curiously.

It used its front leg to scratch at the right side of its jaw where two stubby appendages jutted as if feigning disinterest in the teen trembling before it, but Reiku knew that acting disinterested really meant that the dragon was interested in the potential prey.

Gradually, the dragon took a step forward, the large main pair of its bat-like wings folded against its sleek back as it sniffed the air again, lifting its head a bit to better take in Reiku's scent.

Reiku lowered himself slightly, on the verge of hyperventilating at the sight of the approaching dragon; he was hoping that by sinking himself down a bit, he would make himself appear smaller and less of a threat.

Or at the very least, less appealing.

He knew that whatever he did wouldn't matter though as dragons always went for the kill. Every Viking knew that.

Reiku yelped when the door suddenly disappeared from his back and he was instantly yanked from the cage, the gate closing until it remained open a crack as a brunet slipped into the enclosure.

"Are you okay, Rei?!" Riku questioned frantically, holding Reiku close as Reiku immediately clung to him with a choked sob.

Sora exited the cage, quietly shutting the door behind him and locking it.

As Riku soothed his distressed brother, keeping Reiku’s face against his chest as he patted Reiku’s back, he glanced at Sora, silently asking something.

The brunet nodded.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Riku furiously stormed into the mess hall hours later after he had finally managed to console Reiku. He left Reiku in the care of Sora while he went in search of the miserable maggot known as Seifer Almasy.

His eyes narrowed when he spotted the blond sitting at a far table with Rai and Fuu, laughing and joking around with his cohorts while they ate mutton without a care in the world.

"Oi, Seifer!"

Seifer looked up when he heard his name and smirked at the approaching Riku, setting down his cup of buttermilk. Riku definitely had a scary look on his face, but Seifer was still riding the thrill from teaching Reiku a lesson.

"Hey, Dawn. How's your widdle brother doing?"

Before Seifer could continue talking, Riku struck the cocky blond across the face with a right hook, knocking Seifer out of his seat.

Rai and Fuu instantly went to their leader's side, standing slightly in front of the blond to defend him from the furious silveret. Riku didn’t move or attack any further, shaking his hand a bit to get the sting to fade.

Seifer sat up with a grunt, putting a hand to his throbbing cheek.

Riku pointed at the stunned Seifer, growling, "How dare you stick my brother into a dragon's cage! I oughta feed you to a Monstrous Nightmare for what you did to him!"

Seifer scowled, standing up and wiping the blood off his lip. "Hey! It ain't my fault the wimp is scared of dragons!"

"Yeah, not his fault, you know!" Rai put in, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Affirmative," Fuu said with a nod.

Riku scowled at the defense, jabbing Seifer's chest as he drew himself up to his full height. "You try something like that again and I won't go so easy on you."

With a final glare at Seifer, Riku turned on his heel and strode off, deciding it was better to drop his anger toward the bully and focus his attention more on protecting Reiku. He definitely wasn’t going to allow Reiku to be on his own anytime soon.

Seifer growled, clenching his fists as he watched the retreating silveret. Then he suddenly lunged forward and wrapped his left arm around Riku's neck, yanking him back.

When his back hit Seifer's chest, Riku instantly kicked his foot back to strike Seifer's leg, forcing the blond to let go of him with a surprised yell.

Riku immediately turned around once he was free and tackled Seifer to the floor.

Fuu and Rai uncertainly stood nearby as the two started to punch and try to get the upper hand over each other, not sure whether they should help Seifer or let him deal with Riku on his own.

Seifer was too focused on Riku to actually give the two any orders, struggling to shove Riku off him so he could get the advantage.

A few Vikings that had been in the mess hall when the fight had started began watching the escalating battle and started rooting for either Riku or Seifer to win the scuffle. Several gathered closer to get a better vantage point of the fight.

"What is going on here?"

The noise instantly died down and the small crowd parted quickly, several Vikings managing to look ashamed, as Xehanort approached.

Riku quickly shoved Seifer away, panting as he sat up and swiped his arm across his mouth. He hadn’t taken too many hits to the face, but he had a split lip and was definitely going to have a few bruises within the next few days.

Seifer growled at Riku, glaring at him as he straightened his hat, but made no move to attack again in Xehanort's presence.

Xehanort gazed at the two disheveled boys silently for several seconds before tilting his head slightly.

"To my hut, boys."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Xehanort nodded after he had heard Seifer's version of the story on what had started the fight, folding his hand and setting them on his desk. He closed his eyes. "I see…"

Riku and Seifer silently glared at each other as Xehanort decided on his punishment for the two boys.

After a pregnant pause, Xehanort opened his eyes. "All right. Seifer, before the next trading ship comes in, I want you to shear all the sheep."

"What?!" Seifer protested.

Yggdrasil exported wool to the trader that came every three months in exchange for other goods the merchant had. Yggdrasil also exported a few other small things like milk or cheese, but wool was the biggest export and the town had ten sheep, all ewes, and one ram that provided the wool. It was an easy exchange between Yggdrasil and the trader, allowing the village to obtain items that they couldn't grow or get on their own.

"As for you, Riku, milk the goats. Make half of the milk into cheese and the other half into buttermilk."

"Of course," Riku said with a nod, readily accepting his punishment.

Seifer didn't look entirely happy about his punishment but reluctantly nodded after a mild glare at the silveret next to him. Riku chose to ignore him.

"You two are dismissed. And try to behave yourselves."

The two teens nodded, giving a faint bow before they left the Elder's hut.

Outside, they glared at each other before going their separate ways. Riku headed toward Sora's house so he could talk to the brunet before they made their way to the dragon arena to free some dragons. Seifer went on ahead to the sheep's pen to start shearing; he figured he could get at least five done before it became too dark.

He opened the gate to the enclosure, shutting it behind him so the sheep couldn't run off. The enclosure was muddy and filled with hay but the sheep didn't seem to mind as they aimlessly wandered about.

Seifer eyed the sleeping ram warily, quietly going past it. The ram always gave anyone shearing the sheep trouble. Once past the ram, Seifer went into the barn.

Grabbing the shearing scissors hanging on the wall of the barn, Seifer caught one of the sheep wandering nearby. He held onto it neck and began to cut off its wool until it was sufficiently naked.

Seifer released it, putting the shorn wool into a nearby basket, before he caught another sheep and continued shearing.

Seifer sighed as he released another sheep, peering out the barn window. Even though night had finally fallen, it was still light out. He was almost done with the shearing with one left to go. He wasn't about to stop now.

The other nine sheep were huddled in a corner, staring at Seifer as he grabbed the last sheep.

"What?" he grumped, keeping a tight hold on the struggling sheep as it bleated. "Don't look at me like that. It's not like I want to do this."

Shearing didn’t even hurt the sheep. Seifer figured they just liked to keep their wool to stay warm.

While he was working on the final sheep, the ram slowly woke up from its nap when it heard the bleating. The ram spotted Seifer shearing the sheep and snorted as it climbed to its feet, incensed that the blond was trying to take one of its girls.

Seifer was too busy finishing his shearing job to notice the ram pawing at the ground as it took aim. He only noticed when something rammed into him, sending him flying out of the barn where he landed in the muddy enclosure.

"The hell?!" Seifer said angrily sitting up as he spat out some mud, trying to wipe his clothes off. He picked some straw out of his hat.

The ram stuck its head out of the barn before snorting. The noise caught Seifer's attention and he looked toward the barn to see the ram pawing at the ground again, preparing another run.

"I'm gone, I'm gone!" Seifer hopped over the fence as the ram tried tackling him again, running off to his house.

The ram stuck its head between the slats of the fence and bleated after him angrily. When the blond didn't return to reclaim the sheep, the ram snorted his victory.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reiku woke up when he felt that something was off.

The past day had been strangely peaceful; there were no nightmares, no dragon raids, and Seifer's group had left him alone.

They glared at him from a distance, but never approached, even when he was by himself.

Reiku was certain it had been the Elder who had ordered the trio to leave him alone and he couldn't be more grateful to Xehanort; Seifer's gang not bothering him gave Reiku one less thing to worry about.

The teen got out of bed, padding toward Riku's room and peeking inside.

His brother's bed was empty, the sheets still neatly made and revealing that Riku hadn't even slept in his bed last night.

Reiku frowned slightly, heading downstairs. Where would Riku have gone in the minutes before dawn? Riku did wake up earlier than him but it wasn’t usual for Riku to wake up _that_ early.

When he didn't spot Riku in the kitchen, Reiku trotted outside to continue his search, shivering in the chilly pre-dawn air. He crossed his arms over his chest to keep as much warmth as possible, glancing around the silent village.

Reiku knew he probably should have quickly changed into proper clothes before heading outside, maybe put on some shoes to defend his feet against the cold dew covered grass, but Reiku was concerned as to where his brother had gone.

This wasn't like Riku to leave the house before Reiku woke up.

He quietly searched for his brother, wondering if Riku had gone out early to meet up with Sora for some reason, but if he had Riku would have mentioned it to Reiku the day before so he wouldn't worry.

Reiku wandered through the quiet village as he looked for Riku, the dew-damp grass wetting his bare feet.

Where could his brother have gone at this time of the day?

The silveret paused when he heard a noise and looked toward where the sound had come from, gazing toward Sora's house.

"Riku?" he asked quietly, trying to see if he could see his brother.

Reiku headed toward the sound, the hair on the back of his neck and along his arms standing on end, though he wasn't sure if it was from the cold or anxiety.

He heard the noise again and realized it couldn't have been caused by his brother; it sounded more animal-like than human.

Reiku instantly froze when he saw the body of a Night Fury crouched by the side of Sora's house. Its head was stuck in a basket of pickled fish, snorts and swallowing noises coming from the woven container as the dragon devoured the basket's contents.

Reiku took a step back, the dragon instantly lifting its head from the basket when it heard the subtle movement, thick mobile ear plates raised and twitching as the Night Fury licked its teeth and lips.

When the dragon glanced in his direction, Reiku instantly bolted to the nearest building, the black reptile watching him for several seconds before bounding after him.

Reiku yelped when he was slammed to the ground, the Night Fury pinning him down by his shoulders with its powerful front legs.

The Fury rumbled quietly, glaring at the frightened Viking before raising its wings in a threatening gesture as it opened its mouth.

Reiku trembled and closed his eyes, waiting for the dragon to blast his head off.

A loud snarl sounded directly in his ear before the pressure on his shoulders was suddenly gone.

Cautiously, Reiku opened his eyes, seeing no Night Fury standing above him, and shakily sat up to look around.

He spotted someone running toward the nearby forest. It was a boy that appeared to be around his age with spiky black hair and pale skin. The boy had on no clothes as if he had just come from a bath.

A roar sounded in the distance and the naked boy returned the call as huge black wings spread from his back, lifting him into the air.

Reiku stared dumbly after the strange winged boy, half of his mind wondering where in Valhalla the Night Fury had disappeared to and the other half questioning who and what the boy was and where he had come from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently a male sheep is called a ram and I was just ???  
> When I hear ram I think of the big fluffy sheep with curled horns I didn't realize male sheep were also called rams lololo  
> So anyway I'll try to get up the next chapter next week if I feel like it.


	3. Hitsuzen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "A naturally foreordained event. A state in which other outcomes are impossible. A result which can only be obtained by a single causality, and all other causalities would necessarily create different results. So reads the Kodansha Japanese desk dictionary, second edition." - Yuko Ichihara, xxxHolic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is slightly shorter than the others, but I'm still pretty happy with it.  
> I'm also going to try and update Dragonhyde every week if possible. So next chapter should be up by next week if nothing goes wrong.  
> Thanks for reading! xD

Xehanort paused in his writing when he noticed that his hands were thinner than normal with a few blue veins standing out against his tan skin, branching out like roots.

He hummed to himself as he opened and closed his hand before pushing his chair back and standing up, going over to the bookshelf beside his desk and pulling out the book that contained the vial of red liquid.

Xehanort opened the book and carefully took out the small vial from the carved-out portion of the pages, shaking it slightly as he gazed at the red liquid swishing around, his reflection from the vial’s glass staring back at him.

The Elder noticed that he looked slightly older, more tired. Wrinkles were starting to appear around his mouth and eyes.

Uncorking the vial, Xehanort opened his mouth and tilted the bottle, dropping a single bead of the liquid on his tongue.

The liquid had a bitter taste to it with a hint of iron and sulfur. The taste of the liquid was an acquired one. Not many people can handle something that tasted similar to ash.

As the liquid melted on Xehanort’s tongue, the wrinkles faded almost instantly and a faint light overtook the tired one in his golden eyes.

He smiled at the rapid rejuvenation, corking the bottle and shaking it again. He needed to get more as soon as he possibly could.

A knock sounded at his door and Xehanort turned slightly, irritated at being interrupted.

"Come in," he commanded, setting the vial back into the hollowed-out book and shutting it.

A nervous Viking slowly opened the door and hesitantly came inside as Xehanort slipped the book back onto the shelf.

The Viking was timid with short, shaggy brown hair and green eyes. He was one of the few messenger Vikings that told Xehanort what was happening within the village. Anything that would concern the Elder or whatever was important enough to bring up with him.

"Elder Xehanort, I have some news to bear."

"What?" Xehanort almost snapped, heading back to his desk to resume his work.

The Viking fidgeted timidly, hesitating in his answer. "W-well, this morning, we discovered that two dragons had escaped…"

"Which two?" the Elder responded automatically, already used to the news of dragons somehow escaping their pens. He still had no answer as to how to prevent it. Even with beefing up the security around the arena, dragons still managed to slip free every so often.

"A Hideous Zippleback and the…the Night Fury."

Xehanort paused, one hand resting on the edge of the desk.

"What?" he questioned in a low growl, slowly glancing at the faintly trembling Viking.

The Night Fury was _gone_?

He just barely resisted the urge to slam a fist on the desk; he had been so close! The Night Fury had been in his grasp. And now he was back to square one.

Xehanort stood up. "Gather the town! We're going to have a meeting about this."

The Viking hastily bowed. "Yes, Elder Xehanort."

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

In minutes of Xehanort’s command, the entire town had gathered in the mess hall for the meeting; the older Vikings stood near the front while the younger ones were near the back. Everyone was murmuring amongst themselves about the sudden call for a village meeting.

As not only Elder but Chief, Xehanort stood at the front of the assembly where everyone could easily see and hear him so that there was no need to repeat himself.

He gazed at the crowd before him, golden eyes scanning to make sure that absolutely everyone was there, before he hummed to himself and straightened slightly, resting his arms behind his back.

Almost immediately the crowd quieted and turned their attention to the Elder.

"I have called you here today to talk about the dragons somehow managing to break free of their enclosures," Xehanort announced. “I understand it has been happening for a while, but now I think is the time that something is done about it.”

Sora and Riku glanced at each other nervously, wondering if their mission had somehow been discovered. If it had, then they wouldn't be able to continue their work any longer.

"I don't know how they are doing it," Xehanort continued, gazing around at the Vikings in the crowd, searching for weakness, "but until it is revealed, I want Terra and Ventus to watch the pen one day and Xaldin and Lexaeus to watch the other day. Both teams will switch off every other day."

Ventus bounced excitedly on the front of his feet, azure eyes lighting up at the prospect. He got to hang out with Terra!

The blond glanced to his right where a tall male two years older than him leaned against a nearby wall with his arms folded across his chest.

Terra was Leon's younger brother by four years with brown hair reaching to the base of his neck, the locks styled into rather messy vertical spikes with bangs framing his face. He and Leon looked a lot alike. If it weren't for the scar on Leon's forehead, the villagers would probably get confused as to who was who. But Ventus would always be able to tell Terra apart from anyone.

Terra sensed Ventus's gaze and his blue eyes turned toward the blond. The brunet smiled faintly when Ventus excitedly waved at him, raising a hand and giving a faint wave in response.

Roxas, who stood beside his twin, noticed the exchange and rolled his eyes as he gave a disgusted scoff. Ventus elbowed him in response to his rude gesture.

Roxas may have liked hanging out with Leon, but he didn't like Terra with his beige slacks and black, high-collared tunic that clung a bit too tightly to his chest—Roxas was certain that Terra did on purpose because the brunet knew Ventus had a crush on him. There was just no way that was accidental.

Roxas just didn't think his twin should like someone so vain. Or haughty. Or ‘I’m-too-cool-to-stand-straight’.

Roxas narrowed his eyes in Terra’s direction. Jerk.

Lexaeus the Earth-Splitter quietly stood next to Xaldin the Whirlwind, both of them adopting the same stance with arms crossed and eyes sternly staring straight ahead.

Lexaeus was the village blacksmith and was a very powerful Viking with angular, strong features to match. His ginger hair was slicked back into odd, messy spikes and small eyebrows rested above his deep blue eyes.

He was a quiet man, like his assistant, but had profound, deep thoughts and words when he did choose to speak. He worked well with Xaldin in the shop and with Cid when bringing one of the inventor's creations to life.

With broad shoulders, Xaldin handled most of the work in sharpening weapons and stoking the fire in the blacksmith shop while Lexaeus mostly worked with pounding the hot metal into weapons or other shapes.

Xaldin's black hair, styled into dreadlocks, was kept out of the way with one of the dreadlocks used to hold the rest back into a ponytail, leaving four thin dreadlocks to hang in front of his face.

With thick sideburns and hard violet eyes, Xaldin was seen as intimidating by several Vikings, especially with how he easily wielded the six lances he used to hunt and kill dragons. Those who watched Xaldin, explained the way he used his lances as if he were wielding the wind itself, which is how Xaldin adopted the name of Whirlwind.

However, Xaldin was probably the gentlest Viking in the village, being seen picking flowers and giving them to young Vikings. Lexaeus was also a gentle giant so it was no wonder the two worked well together and were rarely seen apart from the other.

As Xehanort continued to talk, switching the topic from the escaped dragons to the trading ship arriving to Yggdrasil soon, Reiku wandered over to Cloud who stood slightly close to Leon.

"Cloud?"

Cloud glanced at Reiku and blinked, wondering what Reiku wanted with him. "Hey."

"Can I talk to you?"

Cloud glanced back at Leon, noticing with disappointment that the brunet had slipped off without him noticing, and he sighed with a shrug. "Sure."

Reiku glanced around quickly, making sure that no one was close enough to hear them, before he said, "I think I saw something strange last night."

"Strange?" Cloud repeated, raising an eyebrow as he leaned against the wall behind him and folded his arms across his chest.

Reiku nodded earnestly. "Yeah."

"How so?"

"Well…" Reiku shifted nervously as he glanced at the ground, fiddling with his fingers.

Would Cloud even believe him? Or would the blond just think that he was insane? Reiku went over what he had seen last night in his head and decided that it did indeed sound insane.

Reiku took a breath as he steadied himself. "I think…I saw a flying human."

Cloud looked mildly surprised as his other eyebrow raised to meet the first.

"Flying…human?" the blond repeated slowly, but thankfully Reiku didn't hear a hint of skepticism in his voice.

"And a dragon tackled me but didn't kill me." Reiku explained quickly, hoping that Cloud had some sort of answer to what had happened to him. "I thought dragons always went for the kill."

Cloud remained silent for several seconds before he finally asked, "What sort of dragon?"

"Night Fury."

Cloud returned to his muteness as he pondered what Reiku had just told him.

Cloud was an observer by nature so he knew a lot of things and that included why a Night Fury wouldn't kill what it attacked.

He also knew what Sora and Riku did during the night on differing days, but he hadn't mentioned anything to them because he didn't want them to think he would blackmail them in order to keep their secret. He wasn't a cruel person.

"Cloud?"

Cloud blinked as he remembered that Reiku was expecting some sort of answer to his questions and coughed slightly as he tried to think of something.

Finally, he shook his head slowly as he replied, "I'm not sure why that happened. Maybe it just didn’t see a reason to kill you or something. But I don’t have a definite answer."

Reiku frowned slightly as he looked at the ground, looking disappointed.

"Sorry, Reiku."

Reiku shrugged, glancing to the side. "It's okay, I guess."

Cloud decided that it was time to change the subject to something else.

"Hey. How are you doing in training?"

"Okay, I guess,” Reiku mumbled with another shrug.

"No bites or scratches?"

"Nope."

Cloud ruffled Reiku's hair, smiling faintly. "Good for you. You’re doing a great job, I’m sure."

Reiku slowly returned the smile, smoothing his hair down as he faintly heard Xehanort dismiss the meeting in the background.

"Thanks for the advice, Cloud."

Cloud blinked, not quite sure what sort of advice he had given to the silveret as he watched Reiku walk away, Reiku mentioning something about gathering firewood for his home.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kariya huffed to himself as he made his way to the dragon pen, not entirely thrilled with having dragon training directly after an extremely boring town meeting.

It wasn't that he didn't find the dragon training interesting, but he just didn't like hanging out with Hayner and the two others in his little group—Pence and Olette.

Hayner was around eighteen and a bit obnoxious, usually trying to act tougher than he really was. He had light skin and spiky, blond hair with dark eyebrows. He wore baggy trousers mixed with the colors of green and brown (to which he claimed was to help him blend in and avoid dragon attacks. ‘Camouflage’ he explained proudly) and a short, sleeveless grey vest over a black muscle shirt decorated with a white, crudely-drawn Deadly Naddder dragon skull and crossbones that Hayner had stitched into the shirt himself.

Supposedly he and Seifer were dating, but it hadn't been proven as so far all the two did was argue and push each other around with Seifer usually coming out on top. They argued a lot and no one in the village could see how it was possible the two were a thing when they were utter opposites.

Pence was the second member of Hayner's group and was rather heavy-set with light skin and black hair held up by a black strip of cloth with grey lining. Pence wore blue trousers and a short-sleeved white shirt underneath a red sleeveless tunic with a black silhouette of a skeletal Terrible Terror on the front, three fish bones hovering above the tiny dragon.

Pence was the humorous one of the group and was very intellectual with dragons and their weaknesses and even their shot limits. He was a bit too much of a know-it-all, but he was a sweet boy.

Olette was not only the tomboy in the group, but acted like a mother to the two, making sure that they didn't get into trouble as the two had a habit of attracting it; Hayner however was the one who had the stronger polarity in inviting trouble while Pence was an unwitting accomplice.

Olette had soft peach-colored skin and brown hair that stuck out on the sides with two strands of hair falling from either side of her head, just long enough to drape over her shoulders. Out of all the Vikings, she wore the lightest clothes that consisted of an orange shirt with string-like sleeves and a white floral design at the bottom and had on short, khaki-colored slacks.

As he entered the pen, Kariya noticed that Hayner and the other two were already there. They must have run there with all the energy of youth. They were more excited about the dragon training than Kariya was.

Pence was trying to figure out what dragon Zack was going to have them train against while Hayner was claiming he didn't care about the size of the dragon he would still kick its hide, mud brown eyes bright as he started swiping at the air with an imaginary sword.

Olette sighed, shaking her head as she rolled bright green eyes, playing with the beaded, sky blue bracelet on her right wrist, obviously quite used to the duo's behavior.

Kariya rolled his eyes as he stood beside the three, deciding that they wouldn't last long in training and even if they somehow did, they wouldn't last long as Vikings if they didn't get rid of their childlike innocence.

Training against the dragons and learning their weaknesses—how to kill them without being killed—was not a game. It was very serious real life with life and death consequences.

"Okay, guys," Zack said as he came into the pen, closing the gated door behind him before stepping in front of the small group. "Today, we'll be training against the most feared dragon that Vikings know of."

"Oooh, ooh!" Hayner waved his hand excitedly. "Monstrous Nightmare?!"

Zack sighed. "No."

"The Deadly Nadder!" Pence put in, excitedly pulling at the piece of purple cloth tied around his neck as his deep brown eyes lit up.

"No!" Zack whined, obviously frustrated at being continuously interrupted. "The Terrible Terror!"

"I think it's cute," Olette sighed, rolling a spherical, sky blue charm hanging from a black string around her neck between her fingers.

Kariya just barely managed not to face palm at Olette's declaration of a Terrible Terror being 'cute'. It was not cute.

He was surrounded by idiots.

"It's not as cute up close," Zack said as he stood by the dragon's door and opened it.

Gradually, a small green dragon crept out of the small enclosure, head low to the ground.

The Terrible Terror had a springy, iguana-like body with a pair of small spiraled horns, a pair of short wings, and a tail with a barbed tip.

"Aww!" Olette said as the Terrible Terror tilted its head and stared at the four young Vikings curiously, blinking its large yellow eyes dumbly.

"I heard that with its physical attributes—such as the type of horn and spinal ridge—suggest that, despite the difference in size, the Terrible Terror is closely related to the Monstrous Nightmare," Pence put in.

"I bet it ain't so tough!" Hayner said proudly, puffing up his chest as he bravely approached the tiny dragon.

The Terrible Terror immediately narrowed its eyes at the approaching Viking, giving a low hiss at Hayner as it arched its back and lowered its wings.

Before Hayner could even react, the dragon leaped up and landed on his head, causing Hayner to shriek and immediately start swatting at it to get it off.

The Terror innocently hopped down from the frantic Viking's head, turning around and setting Hayner's pants on fire with a direct blast of flames.

Kariya watched indifferently as the teen ran around the enclosure, screaming, with the other two teens chasing after him to get Hayner to stop running so they could put out the flames.

The Terrible Terror scratched its head with a hind leg before giving a squeaky yawn as it watched the three Vikings.

Zack dropped his face into his palm at the ensuing scene before him with a groan.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ow!" Hayner yelped as Seifer rubbed some burn salve onto his wounded lower back.

Hayner had just arrived at Seifer's house, muttering something about a stupid dragon being a pain in his ass before flopping on the older blond's bed and demanding burn salve which had frankly surprised Seifer at Hayner's brazen request. Lucky for Hayner the burns were very light and would probably heal within a week or so. He wouldn’t be able to sit straight for the entire week though.

"That will teach you to mess with a dragon, no matter the size, doofus," Seifer snorted, getting more burn salve. "Now hold still so I can get your butt."

"You just love touching my ass…" Hayner grumbled, resting his chin on his folded arms as he pouted at the wall.

"You have a nice ass," Seifer responded casually as he put small bandages over the areas where he had applied the salve.

"Shut up."

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reiku entered the forest at the edge of the village, looking for good branches or twigs to use for the fireplace.

He knew there were usually good logs near the middle of the woods where the majority of dead and fallen trees were so that was where he was headed.

Reiku paused close to the forest's center when he noticed someone standing near an opening and blinked, noticing that the person was wearing thin clothing that appeared to be made from some sort of skin, like sheep skin.

Who was that? They definitely weren't from Yggdrasil since Reiku hadn't seen them before and everyone in the village knew each other. A lost traveler maybe? He looked foreign.

Cautiously, Reiku went closer to the person, noticing that they were slightly taller than him and had black hair.

The boy suddenly lifted his head as he appeared to hear Reiku's approach and slowly turned around, gold eyes curious.

Reiku stopped as the stared at the boy, noticing that he looked a lot like Sora but Reiku was certain he would have remembered the brunet mentioning he had a twin. Or a brother for that matter.

Reiku hesitated before speaking up, taking another step closer. "Who are you? Are you lost?"

The Sora look-alike blinked at Reiku, tilting his head. Gradually, he began to head closer to Reiku who immediately backed up at the sudden approach.

However, the boy was faster than he appeared and was immediately standing inches from Reiku's face, nose twitching.

The boy was so close that Reiku could smell his natural scent; he smelled like rain and lightning as if he just come from a place that had been storming.

The black-haired boy gave a small growl, noticing that Reiku smelled a bit like flowers and darkness, before abruptly putting his hands against Reiku's back.

Reiku instantly froze at the sensation of the teen practically feeling him up, the boy's hands almost seeming to search for something.

The strange boy released another small growl, looking confused as he let go of Reiku and stepped back slightly.

When the boy's hands withdrew, Reiku immediately scrambled backward, heart pounding as the boy relentlessly followed him.

Reiku gasped when his back hit the rough bark of a tree and pressed himself as far back as he could against the tree as the black-haired teen continued to approach.

Apparently unconcerned about personal boundaries, the boy stepped closer to Reiku until they were practically touching, curiously sniffing at him.

Suddenly his hand was grabbed and Reiku blushed as the strange boy sniffed the palm of his hand.

What. The. Hel.

What in Thor's name was this boy doing?

Seconds later, Reiku's hand was dropped and the boy held out his hand toward Reiku, looking expectant.

Reiku looked from the boy to the outstretched hand, not entirely sure what the whole hand-sniffing thing was about. Cautiously, Reiku leaned closer and gave the boy's hand a single sniff before rapidly pulling back as if afraid he'd be struck.

That appeared to be what the boy wanted, however, as he smiled then looked up when a thunderous roar sounded from somewhere nearby.

The boy returned the roar before turning his back to Reiku and running off, black wings spreading from his shoulder blades and lifting him off the ground.

Reiku stared at the disappearing boy, dumbfounded.

Had he really just seen that? Maybe he really was going insane.

Slowly removing himself from the tree, Reiku stumbled home, completely forgetting about the fact that he needed to gather firewood.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey, Rei," Riku greeted when the front door opened and Reiku stumbled in.

"Hey, Rei!" Sora chirped, kicking his legs back and forth as he sat at the table.

Reiku barely responded to the duo, giving a faint wave in their direction as he headed upstairs.

Sora frowned at the strange reaction and gave Riku a puzzled look, wondering what was wrong with Reiku.

They both knew how Reiku typically acted and this was a bit out of his personality.

Riku, however, was grinning a bit. Noticing the brunet's confusion, Riku decided to elaborate a bit.

"I think he found a crush."

Sora blinked at the silveret's statement, even more confused. How could Riku tell that his brother had a crush?

"Huh?"

Riku sighed. "He was blushing, Sora."

Sora gasped eagerly, grabbing the edge of the table and leaning forward.

"You mean he might have found a girlfriend?!"

"Or a boyfriend." Riku pointed out.

"Awww!" Sora cooed, squishing up in cheeks as he looked towards the stairs.

"Wait…" Riku muttered as he realized something. "Who could it be?"

Sora looked at Riku, puzzled at the question.

"Practically everyone in the village is taken." Riku explained. "Either that or they're over thirty. So, it can't be someone from the village."

Sora thought about it before he perked up. "I want to know—"

Riku rapidly grabbed Sora around the waist before he could rush upstairs to pester Reiku about his crush.

"He'll tell us when he's ready."

Sora pouted, wilting back against Riku as he crossed his arms. "That's no fun…"

"I know." Riku briefly nuzzled Sora's hair in order to placate him before letting go of the brunet's waist. "Now, come on. You can help me make dinner."

The prospect of food perked the brunet up. He clung to Riku's arm. "Yay!"

\-----------------------------------------------------------

After he was certain that Riku had gone to sleep, Reiku quietly got out of bed and crept past his brother's room, noticing Sora snuggled against Riku, the silveret's chin resting on the top of his head.

Well that explained why the brunet had dinner with them.

Slipping on a pair of shoes set at the front door, Reiku quietly opened the door and slipped outside, shutting it behind him. He then trotted toward the forest, heading down a covered path that only he knew about.

The path itself lead to a small area littered with colorful flowers every shade of the rainbow, a large flat stick jutting up from the middle of the garden with crudely drawn runes carved into its face.

The runes spelled out 'Sephiroth'.

The area was a makeshift gravesite that Reiku had made when he had been younger, shortly after Sephiroth's death.

Despite having sent out a boat containing several items that the village thought Sephiroth would need in Valhalla they were missing the crucial part of the funeral rite.

A body.

Even without it, the funeral had continued like it would have with a body. Riku was the one that sent the first lit arrow into the air to set the boat ablaze, several other Vikings following suit.

Reiku had been too young to participate in the rite, only allowed to watch from Riku's side. So he had made his own grave site several months later so he had a physical place to go to talk to Sephiroth.

No one knew about the place Reiku had created, not even Riku, and Reiku wanted to keep it that way.

Reiku sat several feet in front of the marker, crossing his legs.

"Hey, Dad. How are things in Valhalla? Things are okay here, I guess. Riku made me attend dragon training and we had a raid a few days ago. There's also this weird boy that has wings."

Reiku scratched his head.

"He looks like Sora, which is weird too since I know that Sora doesn't have a brother. I haven't told anyone that I've seen him except Cloud, because I trust him, but even he's not sure about what I saw."

He shrugged.

"I guess he thinks I'm crazy. I kind of think I'm crazy, too. Except the boy touched me, so I know he's real. I just don't believe it. I'm not sure what to do anymore."

Reiku sighed, looking at the stars twinkling in the black sky above him, the razor thin crescent moon nestled between the stars.

"What do you think I should do?"

He waited silently for a while, still gazing at the sky as if waiting for the stars or moon to give him an answer to his dilemma.

After a while, he sighed and lowered his head, clenching the legs of his pants between his hands. He hadn't really expected an answer.

"You should have just let me burn…"

Reiku shuddered when he suddenly felt the threat of tears, his throat constricting, and he covered his face and started to cry.

"Everyone would be better off…I can't handle being a Viking…"

Reiku sat by the marker for several hours, sitting in silence with only his thoughts keeping him company, until he finally fell asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading xD I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :3


	4. Life of Strife

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sick as a dog but here's the chapter xD  
> Also KH3 in three days aaaaaHHHHHHHHHHH

Cloud was awakened when the pre-morning light streamed through the shutters of his window, annoyingly managing to break through his pleasant dreams about a certain brunet farmer.

The eldest Strife sat up in his bed, blinking dazedly as the sheets fell to his waist before rubbing his hands furiously through his hair in an attempt to get the spikes into some sort of tamed mess.

His spikes chose instead to fall into their usual position, stubbornly refusing to be controlled.

With an annoyed sigh, Cloud scrubbed his face with his hands then threw off the sheets.

After getting dressed into loose black slacks and a pale blue shirt, Cloud snuck out of his room and into the twins' room near the end of the hall, making sure to stay on his tiptoes in order to avoid creating any noise.

He peeked into the room, spotting the two sleeping in the same bed with the blankets halfway thrown off. Ventus was stubbornly clinging to Roxas' waist, the older twin looking annoyed at the intrusion even in his sleep, one hand unconsciously trying to push Ventus off.

Cloud had long since given up trying to keep the two in their separate beds because one way or another they both ended up in the others' bed sometime during the night and had done so ever since they had been young.

Something about the twin thing made them want to be close, but seemed to only be more prominent when they were asleep. When they were awake, Roxas was fiercely independent.

Carefully stepping into the room, making sure to avoid the squeaky floorboard close to the bed, Cloud crept toward the twins and slowly grabbed one of Roxas and Ventus's ankles in each hand before yanking them up.

Both boys were awakened by the movement and yelped when they were dragged from bed before being swung in a circle.

The Strife family had a daily wake-up routine that had been performed for several years with the first step involving Cloud sneaking into the twins' room since they shared one and grabbing the boys by their ankles before swinging them around until one or both of them woke up. Generally Roxas was the one who woke up first, more annoyed at the swinging than Ventus.

"Okay, okay, we're up!" Roxas snapped, flailing around in an attempt to grab something—anything that came within his reach—while Ventus laughed. Ventus had always liked the spinning deal in the morning.

Cloud stopped turning in a circle, causing Roxas and Ventus to knock their heads together due to the loss of motion. Both boys groaned, holding their injured heads.

"Again with the morning concussion," Roxas grumbled, rubbing his head.

Cloud gave a soft chuckle, setting both boys in their respective beds and making sure to ruffle their hair. "Sorry."

"And the same apology," Ventus giggled, smoothing his hair back into its windswept shape.

Cloud lightly swatted both boys on the arm, attempting to look annoyed with them. "Get dressed. We have work to do after breakfast before the daylight breaks."

"Yes, sir!" the twins replied, mock saluting Cloud.

Cloud rolled his eyes and left the room.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the two boys had gotten dressed, they headed downstairs to help Cloud make breakfast.

While Cloud cooked the eggs, Ventus and Roxas got the table set up with slices of bread, several fresh blueberries, and cups of slightly chilled buttermilk; Roxas had warm buttermilk since he didn't like cold buttermilk. To him, cold buttermilk tasted weird.

Cloud made sure to make the eggs just how each boy liked it. For Roxas, he liked his scrambled. Ventus liked sunny side up. Cloud liked his eggs with the yolk still runny. After the eggs were finished, Cloud gave them to the respective twins, watching as Roxas mixed his with blueberries and Ventus carefully slid his egg onto a piece of bread.

"You two are so weird," Cloud said as he grabbed some syrup from the cupboard and poured a bit on his eggs.

"Ew, gross!" Roxas said, making a face at Cloud’s choice of what to do with his eggs. "You're the weird one! Syrup on eggs?"

"Tastes good to me." Cloud shrugged, not seeing anything wrong with his food tastes.

Roxas made a mock gag noise while Ventus appeared amused by his brother's disgust.

Once they had finished breakfast, the twins helped Cloud rinse out the dishes and set them back in their respective places before the three brothers went outside to their garden to till and water the soil while it was still soft from the night before.

Roxas worked on preparing the earth for the cabbage seeds and the pieces of potato, dragging the hoe slowly across the soft earth in measured strokes. Ventus planted a few cabbages seeds and potato pieces in parallel rows before he distributed the fertilizer while Cloud watered the ground after the seeds and fertilizer were down.

The routine was pretty monotonous and Roxas kept up his half of the job, expecting his brothers to do the same. Roxas paused however when he noticed that his twin and sibling were gone, their tools left on the ground.

He glanced around, wondering where they could have gotten off to and noticed both of them leaning on the fence, staring at something a few yards away.

That something happened to be Leon and Terra, both of them working in their garden as well before the sun came up. Leon’s farm mostly consisted of strawberries and blueberries.

Terra's hair was pulled out of the way with a headband made from the bone of a Deadly Nadder. Leon's short brown hair was pulled back the same way, exposing the diagonal scar cutting across Leon's forehead which was normally hidden behind his bangs.

Both brunets were shirtless, exposing their toned chests and chiseled backs, one working with a hoe while the other worked with a pick to break up any found rocks hiding in the dirt.

Roxas gave a disgusted scoff at the sight of his brothers practically drooling over the brunets, turning back to his work. He could at least finish off his work; if they didn’t that was their fault, not his.

Leon paused in his labor, briefly speaking to Terra about something.

After Terra's response, the elder Leonhart made his way over to the fence where the Strifes were.

Immediately, Cloud and Roxas began working again, both grabbing tools other than the ones they had previously been working with, acting as if they had not just been spying on their neighbors. Roxas rolled his eyes at the reaction.

"Hey, Cloud," Leon greeted as he stopped by the fence separating him from the garden, leaning a hand on one of the posts.

"O-oh, hey, Squall," Cloud greeted, half of his mind remembering that Leon liked being called Squall rather than Leon as he set the pick's handle on the ground and leaned on the top of it, trying to appear casual. "Uh, what's up?"

"Smooth," Roxas muttered as he walked passed Cloud, the older Strife distractedly batting at him to get him to shut up.

"May I borrow a shovel? We keep meaning to get one from the trader, but he's always sold out by the time Terra or I reach him."

Cloud perked up, nodding eagerly. "Y-yeah! I can totally get a pick!"

Leon looked slightly amused at the mistake as he corrected, "Shovel."

"Shovel!"

Ventus snickered at Cloud's panicked ramblings as Roxas rolled his eyes at his brother's response.

Only Leon could get Cloud to act like a goofy idiot.

"Hey," Terra said as he approached the group, Ventus immediately tensing at the other Leonhart's appearance. "You got that shovel yet?"

"Not yet," Leon responded as Ventus started to stutter as well.

Roxas glared at his useless brothers, throwing the hoe to the ground in frustration before stomping off to the small tool cabinet against the side of the house. "I'll get the damn tool!"

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the incident with the Leonharts and pulling his brothers out of their puddle of self-misery, Roxas departed for Vexen's hut while Ventus went to meet up with Riku and Sora before dragon training.

Cloud left to visit Zack in order to walk him to the arena as he always did.

Zack was his friend since childhood and the two had completed dragon training together alongside Sephiroth and Leon.

The dragon training instructor was dating Aerith, a gentle woman who mostly grew flowers with herbal qualities and actually rarely fought during the nights dragons raided, choosing instead to help out Vexen caring for any injured.

Aerith had light brown hair in a plaited braid that reached to her lower back with a light pink silk ribbon given to her by her mother. Segmented bangs framed her face and set off her bright emerald eyes along with her usual attire of a shin-length pink dress and a short red jacket that Zack had apparently given her several years ago.

After knocking on the door, Aerith answered seconds later and smiled when she noticed Cloud standing at the threshold.

"Hello, Cloud. Here to pick up Zack?"

Cloud nodded, giving a faint smile. "Of course."

Aerith motioned to the nearby staircase, moving to the side. "He's getting dressed upstairs."

Cloud thanked her and headed upstairs. Cloud made his way to Zack's room, spotting the black-haired male standing near his bed with his back to the blond, wiggling into a shirt.

Cloud paused when he spotted the severe burn scars spreading across Zack's back and shoulders like a stain, remembering the night the wounds had occurred.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

" _I bet I can kill a dragon way before you can!" a fifteen–year-old Seifer said, putting his hands on his hips as he stared at Leon cockily._

" _You're on," Leon said, crossing his arms as he gazed at the blond passively. "If there's a dragon raid tonight, I'll kill a dragon before you can even blink."_

_Seifer snorted, stalking off with Rai and Fuu instantly following after him._

" _I don't know about this," Cloud said, glancing at Leon. "Doing a bet in the middle of a fight with a dragon isn't the greatest idea, Squall."_

" _Yeah, stop trying to one-up him, Leon!" Zack agreed, putting an arm around both Leon and Cloud. "That's not what defending our village is about!"_

" _I'm going to show Seifer that I am stronger than he is," Leon grumbled, shoving Zack's arm off and walking away._

_Zack and Cloud glanced at each other worriedly, fearing that Leon's competitive streak with Seifer was eventually going to end badly for one or both of them._

_By the time the dragons had started their raid, Cloud was more nervous than ever, but kept his apprehension in check as he started to fight off any dragons trying to steal any livestock._

_He fought off a Hideous Zippleback with his large sword; the dragon was attempting to take a sheep, though it seemed more focused on arguing with its other head on who was going to carry the sheep._

_Cloud glanced over at Leon who was fighting off a Monstrous Nightmare while nearby Seifer challenged a Deadly Nadder._

_The large scarlet dragon reared up its long neck with a snarl at the sword-wielding Viking before sending a large blast of flames at the brunet which was easily avoided, the fire hitting a nearby house and setting it ablaze._

_Seifer snickered at the failed attack before blocking a few of the needles that were whipped at him from the Nadder's tail._

_Leon got annoyed with the battle he was engaged in, running toward a nearby house and jumping up, pushing off the side and launching toward the Monstrous Nightmare. The brunet clung to two of the dragon's four twisted horns as the Monstrous Nightmare furiously shook its head in an attempt to dislodge the Viking._

_Seifer paused in his attack, staring at Leon in surprise. The blond screamed when his forehead burst into pain, clutching it and dropping to one knee._

_The Nadder snarled and raised its tail for another strike, needles lifted up like a porcupine's quills._

_Another Viking took the opportunity to intervene, tackling the Nadder around the neck and forcibly dragging it to the ground._

_Leon became distracted by his rival's scream, glancing toward Seifer to make sure he was okay. The Monstrous Nightmare immediately shook Leon off from its head when it sensed the brunet's hesitance._

_The tip of the dragon's horn cut across Leon's forehead, causing Leon to let go and fall to the ground as the Monstrous Nightmare shook its head once more._

_The dragon swung its head toward the fallen brunet with a snarl, raising up a clawed wing to finish the Viking off._

_Leon panted as he stared up at the dragon, hand pressed to his forehead in order to stop the bleeding, but the blood and stabbing pain were blocking his vision, making it difficult to see straight._

_There was a swift slice and the Monstrous Nightmare suddenly collapsed to the ground, its head severed from its shoulders by a clean cut._

_Cloud stood by the fallen dragon, still holding his sword in attack position, before he slowly lowered it and looked at Leon._

_The brunet gave a faint smile, grateful to the blond for saving his life._

_Cloud returned the smile before he whirled around when he heard an awful scream resound nearby, spotting a gorgeous white dragon stalking toward a fallen Zack._

" _Zack!"_

_The graceful white dragon roared as it lifted its head to the sky and flared its wings, flames from nearby fires causing its scales to glitter. The dragon growled quietly, flickering blue flames slipping from the corners of its mouth before it lunged its jaws toward Zack._

_The dragon abruptly froze however as Sephiroth appeared by its side, long sword still held up to its shoulder, blade side pointed up._

_Cloud watched as the white dragon collapsed, blood pouring from every crevice of its body, still in awe at Sephiroth's speed and grace. He hadn’t even seen Sephiroth move his sword._

_Another white dragon nearby noticed its fallen partner and gave a grief-stricken roar before turning its amber gaze on Sephiroth, baring its teeth with a snarl._

_Sephiroth and the dragon stared at each other before the dragon departed, the rest of the dragons following after._

_Cloud ran over to Zack, Vexen the medicine doctor already by the black-haired Viking and checking him over._

_Cloud started to smell the burnt flesh as he came closer and saw the horrific red marks spread across Zack's entire back and top of his shoulders._

_Sephiroth seemed somber as he also approached and gazed down at the doctor, questioning softly, "Will he make it?"_

" _His back is extremely burned," Vexen muttered, leaning back and running a hand through his pale blond hair. "But I will see what I can do."_

_Everyone in the village feared that Zack wouldn't make it through the night. And even if he somehow miraculously did, he would never be able to be a true Viking again._

_\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Zack turned slightly when he sensed someone staring at him and grinned when he saw Cloud standing at the threshold to his room.

"Hey, Spike!"

Cloud was dragged out of his reminiscing when he heard Zack's voice and smiled weakly, trying not to show how shaken he was by the memory. "Hey, Zack."

"Time for dragon training?"

Cloud gave a small nod. "Yeah."

"Great!" Zack grabbed Cloud's hand, pulling him downstairs. "Let's go."

Cloud sighed at Zack's eagerness, letting the dragon training teacher draw him to the front door.

"Are you leaving now?" Aerith asked, approaching the two males from the kitchen.

Zack grinned. "Yep!"

Aerith looked a bit nervous as she always did when Zack went to the dragon arena to teach. "Be careful."

Zack smiled, reaching out his hand to Aerith as he started to make his way to the front door, murmuring, "I love you more and more."

Aerith returned the gesture, lightly brushing her fingertips against Zack's. "Don't want to let you go."

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The early morning sunlight was just barely beginning to peek up over the horizon when Roxas finally arrived at Vexen's hut, panting as he bolted into it; the medicine doctor had a strict guideline about the time Roxas should be there and he was several minutes late.

He was late, late, late! Stupid yak. Standing in his way and not moving at all.

"Sorry I'm late, Vexen!"

"You better be," Vexen grumbled, coming out from the back room, vivid green eyes narrowing at the blond.

"I'm really sorry," Roxas apologized again as he tied a black apron around his waist. "There was a yak and—"

"Forget it," Vexen sighed, running a hand through his platinum blond hair, briefly displacing the two bangs framing his thin face. "At least you're here at all."

Roxas ducked his head in embarrassment as Vexen returned to the back room once more.

Seconds later, the male came back, handing Roxas a wicker basket and a sheet of paper.

"Gather those herbs and return."

Roxas stared at the basket and piece of paper before nodding eagerly. "Of course!"

Vexen hummed as the blond ran out of the hut, obviously eager to return to the doctor's good side.

Wiping his hands on the black apron resting over his pale shirt and pants, Vexen turned back to a small table to finish mashing several herbs into paste.

As he turned his back, Vexen felt piercing eyes on him and immediately whirled back around, searching for whoever was staring at him.

Vexen scowled slightly when he saw no one before slowly twisting around again to resume his work.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground ivy, Burdock, Garlic, Leek, Wormwood, Thyme, Mint, Hemlock leaves.

Roxas nodded, looking at the list as he headed into the woods skimming the edge of the village.

The bulk of the herbs should be fairly easy to get. Roxas knew what every herb looked like since Vexen had drilled it into his head to make sure that the blond knew a poisonous herb from a non-poisonous one.

Roxas started gathering a few of the herbs listed on the paper at the edge of the forest that lead into a vast open area, making sure they were placed into the basket in alphabetical order; Vexen was also very particular about that as well.

The blond paused when he heard snuffling sounds, immediately freezing when he spotted a Monstrous Nightmare sniffing around the nearby clearing.

The scarlet dragon idly walked around the woods, the claws on its wings supporting its weight since it lacked forelegs. The tall spines along its back and snake-like tail waved with each step before the spines immediately stopped as the dragon halted, lifting up its long neck as it sniffed the air.

Roxas gripped the herb basket tighter as the Monstrous Nightmare's emerald eyes landed on him, the sharp teeth protruding from its lower jaw and four jagged horns extending from the back of its skull terrifying the blond.

Roxas had no specific reason why he was scared of Monstrous Nightmares, but he knew there were a lot of other Vikings that were scared of the dragon since it was the only dragon that had the uncanny ability to set itself on fire.

The dragon stared at the frozen Viking with a quiet growl, tilting its head slightly.

Roxas waited for the dragon to blast him with its fire, but became utterly surprised when the Monstrous Nightmare suddenly stated to shift as the early dawn light shone down on it.

Right before his eyes, the dragon's shape altered and changed into a human-like form.

Roxas stared at the male a year older and several inches taller than him, dumbfounded as his mind tried to figure exactly what just occurred.

Had that really just happened? Had he really just witnessed a dragon changing into a human?

The strange man was lanky with fair skin and shoulder length bright red hair styled into slicked-back spikes that revealed a widow's peak.

His emerald eyes stared at Roxas calmly, the purple reverse-teardrop markings beneath each eyes standing out.

The redhead suddenly smirked, the two long fangs poking up from his bottom jaw retracting into his mouth as he rested a hand on his thin hip raising his other hand.

"Hey, baby. I'm Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?"

Roxas stared at the strange naked man dumbly as Axel tapped the side of his head after stating his name, not quite sure how to react to the dragon-turned-human flirting with him.

Finally, his mind made a decision on how to properly react to the situation.

Roxas screamed, throwing this basket of herbs at Axel before bolting for his life.

Axel looked slightly wounded as the basket hit his chest, staring after the fleeing blond.

What had he done to scare off the pretty blond? He had just said hello and made sure the blond knew his name; wasn't that proper human etiquette?

Axel sniffed his arm as he turned around, heading into the forest.

"Do I smell? It can't be any worse than Demyx."

He paused when he remembered something, looking back at the abandoned herb basket the human had thrown at him.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roxas sighed as he finished the water and set the glass into the sink.

After embarrassedly coming up with a lie on why he hadn't returned back with the basket of herbs, Vexen had sent Roxas home, obviously disappointed in the blond. Roxas definitely didn’t want to go back to the forest in case that weird guy was still there, waiting for him.

It was peaceful that night with no sign of a dragon raid happening and Roxas wanted to go to bed and forget the day ever happened.

He paused when he heard a knock on the front door. After a few seconds, there was another knock that sounded more like someone lightly clawing at the door. Roxas slowly headed toward the front door.

Who could it be at this time of night? There wasn't a raid so everyone in the village had been able to go to sleep early.

Roxas opened the door and looked around when he didn't see anyone at the threshold. Was someone playing a joke?

He looked down when he smelled something and spotted the basket Vexen had given him sitting on the ground filled with the herbs the medicine doctor had requested.

Roxas frowned slightly, picking up the basket and staring at it before looking toward the forest.

He remembered throwing the basket at the strange Axel person before he had run off.

Had _Axel_ been the one to return it to him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter isn't as long as the others, but I don't mind it. I think it's fine just the way it is xD


	5. Screaming Flight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished KH3 yesterday and am still having emotions.  
> But here's the next chapter of Draagonhyde! :D I hope you are all enjoying it  
> Even if I don't get comments but kudos are good too.  
> I'm planning on making a new fanfic soon; it will be a XehIsa/XemSai one. I'll be sure to tell all of you if I put it up.

There was a lot that Reiku didn't know about the world that he wished to someday learn.

 _This_ , however, was not one of those things that he had wanted to learn. At all.

The black-haired teen stared at him with a slightly tilted head, still sitting in a crouched position, while Sora appeared to be struggling to explain the situation, hands moving around in an effort to express what he wanted to say.

Riku just looked stunned, but had yet to move from his position, completely waiting for Reiku to panic or faint.

Or both. Both would probably happen with panic happening first.

Reiku looked between the trio, mouth opening and closing wordlessly as he still tried to form words, struggling to process what the Hel was going on.

He had been walking past Sora's house, trying to find out where his brother had gotten off to so early in the morning, and had heard Sora talking with someone who was repeating the words the brunet was saying slowly and awkwardly as if they had never even spoken words before.

Reiku had opened the door to Sora's house and had come across Sora speaking with the black-haired teen he had met in the forest a few days ago, Riku sitting on the floor nearby, casually watching the duo as if he was used to the situation.

All three had looked surprised when Reiku had made a squeaking sound, noticing the silveret standing at the threshold.

"Um, Reiku, we can explain…" Sora started slowly, holding up his hands in a placating gesture.

Riku sighed, shaking his head as he crossed his arms, already starting to feel the dread building up.

So much for keeping this 'let's-teach-Vanitas-how-to-speak-human!' thing a secret…

"This is Vanitas," Sora said, gesturing to the black-haired teen.

Vanitas gave a small wave in response.

"He's my half-brother."

"Half-brother?" Reiku repeated skeptically, looking between Sora and Vanitas.

Well…they sort of did look a bit alike…but not half-brothers. They looked more like twins save for the difference in hair and eye color.

"Yeah.” Sora nodded excitedly. “My—I mean, our—mother was a Night Fury."

Reiku gave a doubtful look as he crossed his arms. "…Sora, that's a dragon. Dragons and humans can't—"

"Please just wait until afternoon!" Sora begged, clasping his hands together hopefully as he bowed his head. "We'll show you then!"

Reiku sighed as Sora stared at him pleadingly, glancing to the side in order to avoid the brunet's gaze. He shook his head, giving a shrug as he relented.

"Fine…"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sora and Riku lead Reiku to a nearby clearing once afternoon had come, completely forgetting the fact that they had dragon training in less than an hour. Vanitas was eagerly awaiting their arrival in a clearing. He had gone on ahead of the group, chirping excitedly for a reason Reiku didn’t really understand.

"So what do you want to show me?" Reiku asked, looking a bit impatient as he waited for this big secret to be revealed.

How was coming to a clearing in a forest going to explain the insane things Sora was telling him?

"Just watch," Sora said eagerly, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet.

Vanitas gave a quiet growl, looking at the trio with bright eyes.

Suddenly the boy started to change shape and shift, automatically dropping down onto four feet, until Reiku was left staring at a Night Fury right where Vanitas had been standing.

The Night Fury crouched down playfully, rear end wiggling as he gazed at the trio happily before becoming distracted and starting to chase his own tail.

Reiku shakily pointed at the human-turned-dragon, looking at Riku and Sora in disbelief. It had to be some sort of a trick or something, but even this sort of a trick was beyond the capacity of Riku and Sora.

"He—he's a—"

"Yeah. He's a dragon," Sora said eagerly, watching Reiku's reaction hopefully. "A lot of dragons shift to human form early dawn."

"Then back to dragon in early afternoon," Riku finished. “But only on Yggdrasil. The place the dragons live allows them to change to human or dragon willingly.”

"I have Night Fury blood, but not enough that I can shift." Sora pouted slightly, obviously disappointed with his side of his mother's DNA. "But it's still pretty cool, right? Please don't freak out."

Reiku looked between Vanitas, who was sunning himself and watching them quietly, before looking at Sora and Riku.

Before any of them could react, Reiku collapsed.

"Aww, that's the opposite of freaking out…" Sora whined as Riku sighed.

Riku had been waiting for his brother to faint at the news. He hadn’t even gone to the first stage of panicking. Just went straight to fainting.

Vanitas slowly came over and sniffed Reiku's cheek before licking him with his large tongue.

Reiku instantly started batting at Vanitas in an attempt to stop him as he sat up, wiping his slobbered up face.

"Ugh, _gross_!"

Vanitas gave what sounded like a laugh, crouching down playfully before bouncing away.

Riku went over to Reiku, crouching down, and was about to help his brother stand when Reiku shoved him to the ground, looking furious.

"All this time, you _knew_!"

Riku remained quiet, almost as if he were contemplating his answer, before he straightened and sat up, crossing his legs. "Yeah, I knew. For a long time."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were scared of dragons." Riku stared at Reiku earnestly. "I was just looking out for you, Rei. If I had told you, you would have become even more frightened, not knowing if anyone on our island was secretly a dragon in disguise. Which, by the way, they’re not. We’re all human here."

Reiku scowled slightly, but didn't continue the argument.

He knew Riku was protective and if he had thought keeping something like this a secret was for the best, then Reiku had no choice but to forgive him.

Sensing that he was out of argument range, Riku sat beside Reiku and Sora sat on the other side of Riku, leaning against him.

Vanitas plopped down a few feet away, giving a quiet rumble as he rested his head on the grass.

Everything went into a peaceful state until Vanitas hopped to his feet as if struck by an idea of some sort.

Sora gave his half-brother a confused look, wondering what had gotten into Vanitas. "Van?"

Vanitas suddenly lowered his front half, wings lowered against his side, as he looked at Reiku expectantly.

Reiku stared at him in bewilderment, not quite sure what exactly the strange dragon-boy wanted from him.

"He wants you to ride on his back!" Sora squeaked ecstatically, shaking Riku as if hoping by doing that his excitement would pass from Riku to Reiku. "He never lets anyone ride on him!"

"I am _not_ riding on him," Reiku said bluntly, leaning back slightly.

"He won't hurt you," Riku encouraged. "He just wants you to trust him."

" _Trust him_?" Reiku squeaked, pointing at Vanitas. "He's a dragon!"

Vanitas gave a low, whimpering growl, ear plates drooping.

Riku scowled at his brother, giving a disappointed look. "Now look, you hurt his feelings."

Reiku looked taken aback by the statement. "I hurt _his_ feelings?!"

"Reiku!" Riku snapped.

Reiku growled, glancing at Vanitas skeptically before slowly inching toward him.

Vanitas gazed at him eagerly, apparently trying his hardest to remain still even as his tail waved like mad.

He lowered himself more as Reiku awkwardly swung his right leg over Vanitas's shoulders, trying to act like he was climbing onto a saddled horse. A low horse with wings.

Reiku slowly sat down, setting his hands on Vanitas's neck as the dragon slowly stood up.

Vanitas gave a low rumble, glancing up at Reiku expectantly, almost as if he were asking _Are you ready yet?_

Reiku hesitated before he slowly nodded. "Yeah…I think I'm ready…"

Vanitas slowly opened his wings, taking a few leisurely flaps as he lifted off the ground, trying to get used to having a passenger on his back.

Reiku gulped as the ground started to get smaller and father away, digging his nails into the side of Vanitas's neck and glancing down, noticing Riku and Sora waving at him.

He lowered himself, pressing his legs against Vanitas's side, terrified that he would slip off the dragon and fall to his death. He had no harness or anything else to help him hold on during flight.

Vanitas gave a comforting growl, still going at a slow pace, making sure that he wasn't too high off the ground. He occasionally glanced back at the boy to see how he was doing, noticing that as they went along, Reiku was slowly starting to sit up a bit straighter, gazing around the new environment with awe.

Sensing how relaxed Reiku was becoming, Vanitas went a bit higher until he barely skimmed the white clouds hanging in the afternoon sky, allowing the silver-haired human to curiously touch them.

The dragon gave what looked like a smirk at the sight before his ears pricked up, vibrating. He looked around as he searched for the source of the sound that had attracted his attention.

Abruptly, Vanitas made a sharp turn, diving into a large dark cavern. He dropped to the ground, shaking his head a bit.

Surprised by the sudden movement, Reiku grabbed onto two of the stubby appendages on the side of Vanitas's face, the dragon giving a faint uncomfortable sound as Reiku glared at him.

"What the Hel? Are you trying to make me fall off?"

Vanitas rumbled, glancing behind him as he heard the faint roars from several dragons flying outside the cave; it was a large flock returning from a kill.

Reiku heard the noises as well, turning to look behind him in surprise.

Vanitas had turned into the cave to avoid the dragons who would have been unpredictable in their behavior upon seeing a human riding on the back of a dragon.

The dragons would have surely made a meal out of the tiny human and probably would have killed Vanitas as well.

Reiku heard a loud crash beside him as something broke through the side of the cavern's wall right in front of them. A pair of glowing red eyes stared at the duo before coming toward them.

Vanitas growled, crouching down in response before he turned and bolted deeper into the cave. He flapped his wings to start going faster as the unknown dragon roared as it pursued them. The cave was dark and Reiku couldn't see where they were going.

Vanitas's ears vibrated as he gave out low barking sounds, listening for a reply back as he took a sharp turn.

There was a crash as the dragon behind them slammed into the curve before it gave a furious roar.

Vanitas continued using his echolocation to his advantage over the obviously larger dragon, eventually shooting out of another entrance to the cave, flying higher to avoid the other reptile as it also burst out of the cavern seconds later.

The dragon was enormous with a white hide, a long tail with multiple spines and a large body with red eyes and several jagged needle point teeth set into a strong jaw.

The dragon roared, opening its mouth to the fullest extent and Reiku could see that the dragon had three rows of teeth almost like a shark.

Reiku gasped quietly as he lowered himself a bit at the sight of the dragon.

"Screaming Death…"

Screaming Deaths were a rare sight as they were supposed to be a heavily mutated, albino Whispering Death, a dragon less than half the size of the Screaming Death with spirals of barbed teeth set in the entirety of its huge mouth and its eyes were so pale they appeared to be blind; Whispering Deaths also avoided the light while Screaming Deaths eagerly went after anything that was shiny but they were apparently massively intelligent as Screaming Deaths could not be fooled by the same trick twice. They rarely made their appearance, too busy burrowing tunnels into the ground to be focused on bothering humans. This one had a different idea apparently.

The Screaming Death roared and snarled at them, showing its displeasure at having its home invaded by outsiders, small wings flapping occasionally while its massive tail turned like a rotor to aid in keeping its massive body airborne.

Vanitas bared his teeth, quietly growling back at the dragon, but made no move to attack. He was not going to be the one to draw first blood if the Screaming Death wasn't going to go on the offensive.

It was possible the dragon was just upset at having its home invaded by a human and a dragon. It might just want to scare them off so it could go back to burrowing.

The dragon growled again, narrowing its blood red eyes before suddenly launching at them.

Vanitas growled, before shooting upward to avoid the tackle, momentarily forgetting that he had a human on his back.

He glanced back at Reiku with a whimpering growl, checking to make sure he was okay.

Reiku gave a small nod as he securely held onto the Night Fury's neck, showing that he was all right.

Vanitas gave what looked like a nod back, turning and flying off as fast as he could, not quite going at his top speed.

The Screaming Death chased after them with a roar, wings steadily beating with strong strokes as its tail rotated quickly. It suddenly got beneath them, easily seeming to catch up to Vanitas's incredible speed, flicking its head up to strike Vanitas from below.

The Night Fury yelped, momentarily becoming upended by the attack before quickly rolling sideways and turning around with a snarl.

Vanitas heard a scream and noticed Reiku plummeting toward the Screaming Death, the dragon waiting below the falling human with its mouth open eagerly.

The silver-haired teen must have slipped off when he had struggled to straighten himself!

Vanitas immediately sprang into action, shooting toward the Screaming Death and using the claws on his foreleg to grab Reiku's pant leg, the large dragon's jagged teeth just barely scraping the tip of his tail as the mouth snapped closed.

The Screaming Death snarled at Vanitas, glaring at the Night Fury. How dare that night lizard interrupt its meal!

Vanitas turned around, gently helping the shaken Reiku onto his back, giving a low rumble as he gazed at the silver-haired teen worriedly.

Reiku nodded as he settled onto Vanitas's back, still a bit shaken from the ordeal of falling off a dragon and almost being eaten by another.

Vanitas purred quietly before turning his attention back to the Screaming Death, giving a low snarl.

Just as the pale dragon was about to charge at the Night Fury, Vanitas shot it with a purple plasma blast, causing the Screaming Death's head to snap to the side from the powerful, targeted strike.

The Screaming Death appeared surprised by the strike before it shook its head and roared, about to attack again, only to be struck repeatedly with plasma blasts.

Vanitas continued bombarding the Screaming Death with his targeted attacks, not giving the dragon time to react and counterattack, continuing the assault until the Screaming Death turned and shot back toward its home with a pained roar.

The dragon disappeared back into the cave, the faint crunching of rock and soil echoing from the entrance as the Screaming Death created a new path in its nest.

Vanitas gave a low snort, smirking in triumph, as he turned and headed back to where Sora and Riku waited for their return.

Riku became concerned when he noticed his brother's pale face as Reiku shakily climbed down from Vanitas's back.

He immediately went up to his brother, setting his hands on the silveret's shoulders to steady him.

"What's the matter, Rei?"

"…A Screaming Death attacked us…" Reiku whispered, trying to stop himself from shaking.

"What?" Riku asked sharply, dropping his hands from Reiku's shoulders.

"But I thought there weren't any of them near our village…" Sora muttered, grabbing onto Riku's hand fearfully.

Riku debated on something mentally for several seconds before he sighed. "I may have to tell the Elder about this…"

"Riku!" Sora protested.

"Not _this_ this!" Riku corrected, looking slightly irritated that Sora thought he would oust Vanitas. "I mean about the Screaming Death. I'll just make up a story about how we spotted it."

Sora gave a relieved smile, immediately hugging Riku.

Vanitas rumbled, licking Riku's face.

Riku gave a disgusted look at the dragon's way of saying thank you, but didn't make a move to wipe off the saliva as he turned to his brother.

"You should probably head home, Rei."

Reiku nodded, knowing it was best not to argue, and waved at Riku and Sora as he started heading out of the forest.

Vanitas watched him go, head tilted to the side almost as if he were wondering if he would get to see Reiku again sometime.

Reiku stumbled slightly when he bumped into someone shortly after leaving the forest, immediately stepping back with an apology already on his tongue before he froze when he noticed that he had bumped into Xehanort.

Reiku glanced down slightly as he wondered why Xehanort was there in the first place.

Xehanort rarely ever left his hut unless it was important.

"I'm sorry, Elder…I didn't see you there…"

"And tell me, where have you been all day?" Xehanort gazed at Reiku with calculating eyes, waiting for the boy to say something wrong so he could pounce on him; he just knew Reiku and Riku were hiding something. "Zachary told me you missed class along with your brother and Sora."

"We were playing in the forest," Reiku replied automatically.

Well, not a total lie. They had been playing in the forest. With a dragon.

"I'm sorry, Elder, it won't happen again."

Xehanort gave a small hum at that, straightening slightly and clasping his hands behind his back.

"Have you seen a Night Fury by chance?"

Reiku shook his head quickly, hoping that it wasn't too quick for the Elder to know that he was lying. He was also hopeful that Xehanort couldn't hear his heart pounding loudly in his ears.

"Of course not, sir! I would tell you first if I did see one."

Xehanort stared at Reiku skeptically for several seconds before slowly nodding, briefly closing his eyes.

"Of course. You may leave now."

Reiku gave a small bow. "Thank you, sir."

Xehanort watched Reiku scurry off, amber eyes narrowed, before he turned his gaze to the nearby forest.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ventus immediately headed over to Xaldin's workshop after dragon class had wrapped up to get a few of his family's weapons sharpened so they were prepared in case of a dragon raid. He paused close to the blacksmith's workshop when he noticed Terra speaking with Xaldin while Lexaeus pounded a molten weapon inside the shop.

The blond looked around, making sure there wasn't anyone else around or nearby, before heading over to the brunet as Xaldin disappeared back into the shop.

He hesitantly cleared his throat to get Terra's attention. "H-hey, Terra."

Terra glanced at him and immediately perked up when he noticed Ventus, raising a hand in greeting.

"Hey, Ventus. What's up?"

Ventus blushed when he noticed the brunet gazing at him with his deep ocean blue eyes, averting his eyes to the ground as he started to stutter.

"O-oh…I was just…weapons…sharpened, get! Yeah…"

Dang it! Couldn't he at least attempt a simple conversation with his crush without getting his sentences all jumbled?

Terra chuckled quietly as Ven buried his face in his hands, obviously embarrassed at his failed attempt at starting a conversation.

_So cute…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I'll get up the next chapter next week! :)


	6. Muddy Flower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter isn't as long as the others but I realized I was putting too much effort into trying to make them the same length and I was burning myself out. So *shrugs* Here's this chapter. I've been good though about getting the chapters up every week.

A male in his early thirties wandered around the village just before dawn, looking around to make sure nothing was out of place.

The man’s name was Saїx. He was one of the village’s Berserker, able to go into an unstoppable rage by throwing a bear’s skin over his shoulder; during battle, against hostile humans and dragons, Saїx wielded a heavy claymore. Saїx had long blue hair and golden eyes. An X-shaped scar crossed between his eyes, created by two different instances with dragons: one from a Nadder’s spike and the other from a Monstrous Nightmare’s horn.

Saїx was doing his early morning rounds of the village, checking that everything appeared as it did the night before. He paused when he heard a sound like crunching leaves, looking towards the noise to see a male his age standing several feet away.

The man had long silver hair and amber eyes. He didn’t wear clothes familiar to Saїx, but Saїx couldn’t remember the village recently taking in a foreigner.

Saїx stared at the silver-haired man as he stared back at Saїx.

He continued to stare at Saїx calmly before he sneered, walking away.

Saїx watched the strange man disappear into the woods. He sure hadn’t been familiar; Saїx would definitely remember someone like that. Shaking his head, Saїx continued on his way.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Riku entered the training arena, coming across Seifer picking on a distressed Reiku.

“Hey, Almasy!”

Seifer looked at Riku, his eyes widening before he scowled and shoved Reiku back as he slunk past Riku. He glared back at both of them as Ventus and Sora entered the arena.

“Whoa, how do you do that?” Ventus asked as he ran up to Riku. “He never backs down without an argument.”

“One time he was picking on me,” Sora explained, “and Riku got him in a chokehold, pinning his arm to the breaking point. Ever since that he almost does everything that Riku says.”

“No wonder.”

“I know!” Sora said, clinging to Riku’s arm and snuggling against him with a grin. “Isn’t Riku just the greatest?”

Riku appeared embarrassed as Ventus laughed.

Reiku wondered if Ventus knew about Vanitas. He wondered how many people knew about Vanitas.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that night, a dragon raid occurred and all the Vikings were on deck to defend their livestock and houses against the fiery lizards.

A male with grey streaked black hair pulled back in a ponytail was busy using a crossbow locked with large tranquilizer darts to shoot dragons down before they caused too much damage. He had an eyepatch covering his right eye, the eye lost in a battle with a Gronckle. A jagged scar went up his left cheek, caused by a Deadly Nadder’s nose horn.

Xigbar was a sharpshooter, his accuracy never failing. He shot down several dragons, a few taken to the arena to replace the ones lost while the rest were taken elsewhere, away from the village.

Once all the dragons had been scared off, the harder work began: putting out fires and helping to rebuild damaged houses. Half the Vikings were designated as the ones who put out the fires and the rest were tasked with gathering wood to temporarily patch houses.

Cloud and Leon were on the fire douser team, taking buckets back and forth from the nearby well to toss onto fires until they were smoldering. While Leon continued putting out fires, Cloud went to find another bucket in order to speed up the process.

With so much water soaking the ground, it wasn’t a surprise that the dirt began to turn into mud. Cloud was moving so quickly to keep up with the others dousing fires that he slipped on a muddy spot.

Leon turned to began his trek back to the well once more and ended up with an armful of Cloud, both of them collapsing to the ground from the sudden weight. Their belt buckles locked together as both Leon and Cloud struggled to stand up, embarrassedly muttering at each other.

“Maybe if you—”

“Yeah, that might work…”

“Oof, sorry.”

“It’s cool.”

The two laughed slightly at their situation, still trying to get untangled. Talking it through wasn’t doing very much and it appeared that their belt buckles were just getting more and more tangled rather than untangled.

“Get a room!” Ventus laughed as he and Roxas came up to the duo.

Roxas gave an irritated look, muttering something about how he was glad he wasn’t gay.

Both Leon and Cloud blushed at the implication before Leon shoved Cloud off him. The force of the shove untangled them and Leon quickly got to his feet before stomping off.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vexen was busy making medicine the next afternoon, creating concoctions to help the Vikings that had injuries or ailments from the night before.

An arm wrapped around Vexen’s wrist, startling the doctor. He soon relaxed when he heard a familiar voice.

“Hey, babe.”

Vexen glanced behind him with a faint smile at the man who had entered his hut. “Hello, Marluxia.”

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Vexen sighed as he entered the forest, carrying the basket over his shoulder. He needed a few herbs and flowers to create some new medicine for the residents of Yggdrasil._

_He paused when he saw the certain herb that he was looking for, setting down the basket before kneeling down. “Ah, there we are.”_

_As he picked the herb, gathering the necessary amount that he needed, there was a snort and Vexen looked up sharply to see a dragon standing several feet away, gazing at him._

_The dragon was nearly the size of a Monstrous Nightmare with deep blue, almost purple, scales. The dragon’s curved horns protruding from the back of its head were long and low while its folded wings sported spikes along the sides. The claws were green and sharply pointed, like the thorns on a rose._

_Vexen recognized the dragon as a Toxic Nightshade, a dragon renowned for its poisonous fangs and claws._

_Vexen remained still as he and the dragon stared at each other. Vexen wasn’t one of the fighting Vikings. If the dragon attacked him, he wouldn’t stand a chance._

_However, instead of attacking him, the dragon merely laid down to continue watching Vexen._

_Vexen stared back at the dragon before he slowly began to continue gathering the herbs that he needed, not taking his eyes off the dragon in case it decided to take advantage of him when his guard was down._

_\---------------------------------------_

_“That was extremely strange…” Vexen murmured to himself as he continued to grind up flowers and herbs into pastes or boil them for liquid concoctions._

_The entire time he had gathered herbs, the dragon had just peacefully watched him, not making a move to attack or leave. Only when Vexen had stood up then the dragon also stood before meandering off._

_“Should I tell the Elder…?”_

_Vexen shook his head. No, no, the Elder wouldn’t believe him. Vexen didn’t even believe himself on what he saw. Perhaps he was just overworked and had imagined the dragon._

_“Excuse me…”_

_Vexen flapped a hand towards the voice, snapping, “I’m busy. Come back another time.”_

_“I don’t need medicine. I wish to speak with you.”_

_Sighing heavily, Vexen looked towards the entrance to his hut to see a male around his age standing at the threshold._

_Vexen didn’t recognize the person. He had on strange, foreign clothing. His hair was past his shoulders and an obnoxious shade of pink; Vexen wasn’t sure if that meant the man had dyed his hair with some sort of herb or if it was a natural hair color. And the man’s eyes were bright blue, like the sky._

_The man smiled at Vexen and Vexen scowled at him._

_“What do you want from me?”_

_The male slowly approached Vexen._

_The sudden approach of the stranger had Vexen backing against the table in an effort to get away from the man._

_“I’ve been watching you,” he murmured, leaning closer to Vexen, navy blue eyes staring at the medicine doctor intently._

_Vexen leaned away from the strange man, gripping the edge of the table._

_“Watching me?” Vexen repeated, scowling as he turned his head to the side when the male leaned even closer to him._

_“Yes,” the man purred. “And I must say you are delectable.”_

_He gripped Vexen’s arm, grinning._

_“I want to mate you up.”_

_Vexen flushed angrily at the stranger’s crude statement, before freezing up when the man leaned closer to him. Inches from touching Vexen’s lips, the man noticed the sun slowly starting to set and gave a frustrated growl._

_Vexen had closed his eyes, anticipating the impending kiss, but suddenly the warmth and weight was off him and he opened his eyes just in time to see the man running out of his tent._

_Vexen stared after the strange man dumbly, not sure if he should be as angry and horny as he was. He sort of wanted…that kiss._

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Vexen hadn’t known Marluxia for long, only about a few months. But there was something attractive about this strange man who only showed up every so often at varying times. And Vexen did like mysteries.

Marluxia watched Vexen work for a few minutes before he said, “Vexen, I have something to tell you.”

“And what would that be?” Vexen answered, distracted as he began to crush some flowers in a pestle and mortar.

“…I’m a dragon.”

Vexen gave a sharp snort, looking at Marluxia with incredulous eyes. “What did you say?”

“I said, I’m a dragon.” Marluxia squared his shoulders, staring at Vexen seriously. “And I can prove it to you.”

Vexen raised an eyebrow at Marluxia’s ridiculous statement though half of him was intrigued. A human that could turn into a dragon? Or was it a dragon that could turn into a human?

“All right. Show me.”

“Sunset,” Marluxia said. “I’ll show you at sunset.”

Vexen hummed, becoming skeptical of Marluxia’s claim before he nodded. That would at least give him enough time to continue making pastes and tonics for the sick and injured.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slightly before the sun began to set beyond the horizon, Marluxia lead Vexen out of the village and to the forest.

Vexen looked around as they came into a clearing and he recognized it as the one that he had once saw that strange Toxic Nightshade.

“I assume you recognize this spot?” Marluxia asked, looking at Vexen expectantly.

Vexen nodded, glancing at Marluxia. “Yes, I do. Do you recognize it?”

“I do. It was where I first saw the man I was certain that I wanted to mate with.”

Vexen frowned, trying to rack his brain and remember if he had seen Marluxia in the clearing before the day the man had come so rudely into his tent. “I’m sorry? I don’t remember seeing you here…”

“Of course. It wasn’t the human me that you saw.” Marluxia took several steps back as the sky began to burn orange with the sun’s disappearance.

Before Vexen could even ask more questions about what Marluxia meant, the questions died in his throat as the man began to shift into a dragon right before his eyes.

The Toxic Nightshade.

Of course. _It wasn’t the human me that you saw._

That explained why the Toxic Nightshade hadn’t attacked him that day when he had been gathering herbs. The dragon had been Marluxia. Marluxia had been watching him for who knew how long before gathering up the courage to see him in person.

“A dragon.”

The dragon—Marluxia—rumbled in what was an obvious _of course_ statement. He remained at a distance, either waiting for Vexen to approach him or for Vexen to reject him.

“How…fascinating. Are there others like you? Ones that change between humans and dragons?”

Marluxia appeared hesitant before he gave a nod.

“I see…”

Vexen didn’t know how to feel. The Vikings had always either caught or killed dragons. And to now learn that there were certain dragons that could turn into _humans_ , well, that changed things. He wondered if Xehanort knew or if Xehanort was just as oblivious as the rest of the village.

Marluxia made a low whining noise to break Vexen out of his thoughts.

Vexen cleared his throat. “Ah, yes, don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. Otherwise they may capture and experiment on you.”

Ignore that this creature had feelings and could feel pain just like the rest of them in order to understand how he did what he could do.

Marluxia gave what Vexen supposed passed as a grin for a dragon, revealing all his serrated teeth.

Vexen gave an awkward smile back as Marluxia stepped closer. He held out his hand so he could touch the dragon’s muzzle, running his hand down Marluxia’s neck to feel the scales.

Vexen had never been this close to a dragon without one wanting to kill him and now he could touch one whenever he wanted.

“Aren’t I a lucky man…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also got into the Stardew Valley thing and am enjoying myself. xD It's a cute game.  
> So next week I will get up chapter 7 :3


End file.
